r 


S^.Z/o 


Stem  t^e  feifitart^  of 

(J^equeat^eb  6i?  ^im  fo 
t^e  £i6rari?  of 

(prtncefon  C^eofogtcaf  ^emindrjj 

V.  1 


THE  HEBREW  LAWGIVER. 


X 


JOHN  M.   LOWRIE,  D.D., 

AUTHOR   OF  "  ESTHER   AND   HER   TIMES,"  AND   "  ADAM   AND   HIS   TIMES." 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 

FORT  WAYNE,  INDIANA. 


"  The  Lawgiver  of  the  Jews,  no  common  man." — Longinus. 


VOXj.     I 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTEKIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

No.  821  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1865,  by 

THE    TRUSTEES     OF    THE 

PEESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 
of  Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTXPED  BY  'WESTCOTT  &   THOMSON. 


CONTENTS 

"V"OL.     I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAaE 
-^  AND  HIS  Biography 25 


C.                              CHAPTER  11. 
'Egypt^and  Egyptian    History 35 

^.'  CHAPTER  III. 

Provx^ntial  Preparations 44 

■*' 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Bondage  op   Egypt 53 

CHAPTER  V. 
Parental  Faith 63 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Education  op  Moses 71 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Moses  choosing  Israel 84 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Great   Choice 91 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PAGE 

Moses  in  the  Desert  op  Midian 102 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Burning  Bush 110 

CHAPTER  XL 
The  Revealed  Will  op  God  Desirable 121 

CHAPTER   XII. 
A  Revelation  Necessary 129 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Are  Miracles  Credible? 143 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Characteristics  of  Scriptural  Miracles 154 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Magicians  op  Egypt 166 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Nature  op  their   Magical  Wonders 175 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Earlier  Plagues  upon  Egypt 184 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Locusts  and  Darkness 194 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Pharaoh's  Hardened   Heart 20.3 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER   XX. 

PAQB 

The  Passover  Instituted 213 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Death  of  the  First-Born 222 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Israel  at  the  Red  Sea 230 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Red  Sea  Lessons 239 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Providence  in  the  Desert 250 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  Smitten  Rock 265 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
War  with  Amalek 275 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Mount  Sinai 282 

I  * 


PREFACE 


• 

Possibly  the  volumes  now  laid  before  tlie  Christian 
public  may  be  thought  by  some  readers  to  come  quite  short 
of  the  promise  which  their  name  implies.  But  certainly 
the  most  intelligent  readers  will  be  least  surprised  at  this. 
For  the  full  discussion  of  the  character,  claims,  teachings 
and  influence  of  the  Hebrew  Lawgiver  would  require 
more  volumes  than  the  chapters  we  here  present ;  indeed 
the  writings  called  forth  by  the  Pentateuch  would  make  a 
library  in  number  far  exceeding  the  pages  of  this  work ; 
nor  will  these  volumes  be  issued  in  vain,  even  though  con- 
taining little  that  is  new,  if  they  serve  to  awaken  in  their 
readers  an  interest  in  Scriptural  teachings. 

Yet  a  certain  completeness  is  to  be  reasonably  expected 
in  a  new  publication ;  and  the  more  familiar  the  subject, 
the  more  easily  may  any  important  omission  be  noticed. 
Chiefly,  it  may  be  thought,  that  decided  attention  should 
here  be  paid  to  the  more  recent  attacks  made  upon  the 
authority  of  Moses  and  the  historical  claims  of  his  writ- 
ings. These  volumes  would  indeed  be  sadly  defective 
without  the  careful  urging  of  serious  and  weighty  consid- 
erations to  vindicate  the  authenticity  of  the  books  of  Mo- 
ses, and  his  entire  credibility,  not  simply  as  a  historian, 

7 


8  PREFACE. 

but  as  the  lawgiver  of  the  Hebrew  people  and  a  prophet 
of  the  Most  High  God.  So  we  have  given  due  care  to 
maintain  these  points.  But  no  formal  refutation  has  been 
attempted  of  attacks  upon  Moses,  which  deserve  the  name 
rather  of  cavillings  than  of  arguments.  These  chapters 
wer^  almost  wholly  written  before  the  publication  of  even 
the  first  book  of  Bishop  Colenso.  Doubtless  his  writings, 
eagerly  published  on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  have  gained  a 
wide  circulation  and  done  their  share  of  mischief,  princi- 
pally because  their  author  has  been,  and  indeed  still  is,  a 
prelate  in  the  English  established  church.  But  in  this 
brief  preface  we  may  give  a  few  reasons  for  making  no 
elaborate  reply  to  his  writings;  and  in  so  doing  express 
some  thoughts  touching  the  long  controversy  in  which  his 
cavillings  bear  their  transient  part. 

No  serious  Christian  can  feel,  or  should  affect,  indiffer- 
ence, in  view  of  the  prevalence  of  infidelity,  or  the  various 
assaults  it  makes  upon  the  authority  of  the  sacred  canon. 
Yet  not  only  a  calm  confidence  in  the  strength  of  the 
Christian  evidences  becomes  the  intelligent  believer;  but 
also  a  knowledge  of  the  blustering  assumptions  which  the 
adversaries  of  truth  are  not  a  little  prone  to  make ;  and  an 
acquaintance  with  the  methods  that  best  tend  to  establish 
the  serious  claims  of  the  Bible.  One  inexperienced  in  the 
conflicts  of  truth  against  the  ragings  of  human  depravity, 
is  prone  to  judge  unwisely.  The  loud  congratulations 
of  unbelievers  upon  the  accession  of  a  prelate  to  their 
ranks,  the  fears  of  timid  Christians,  and  the  numerous 
replies  made  to  his  books,  might  lead  such  an  one  to  think 
that  now  something  had  occurred  more  serious  than  the 


PREFACE.  9 

annals  of  ecclesiastical  warfare  had  ever  before  known; 
that  now  indeed  has  come  the  grand  crisis  of  the  war. 
Yet  as  well  may  the  raw  recruit,  who  now  has  his  first 
actual  experience  of  the  turmoil  of  conflict,  affirm  that  no 
such  battle  was  ever  fought  before;  as  well,  at  his  first 
sight  of  an  eclipse,  may  an  astronomer  be  alarmed  lest  the 
sun's  light  has  been  blotted  forever  out;  as  the  humble 
Christian  begin  to  tremble,  when  men  talk  boastingly,  as 
if  the  foundations  were  indeed  destroyed.  Ps.  xi.  3.  In 
the  history  of  the  church,  fierce  attacks  upon  the  evidences 
of  revealed  religion  are  no  new  thing:  with  the  exultant 
shouts  of  her  foes,  her  sons  should  by  this  time  be  famil- 
iar ;  we  cannot  look  back  to  any  period  when  the  cause  of 
piety  won  easy  victories,  because  there  were  none  to 
oppose  it,  with  all  the  swellings  of  tumultuous  passion; 
there  have  been  times  of  far  deeper  gloom  than  the  pres- 
ent in  the  relative  positions  of  faith  and  unbelief;  and 
understanding  now,  better  than  ever,  the  just  estimate  in 
which  we  should  hold  the  numbers,  the  temper,  the  argu- 
ments, and  the  influence  of  our  adversaries,  the  friends  of 
religion  may  stand  flrm  and  calm  in  their  faith,  and  should 
know  this,  that  we  have  no  better  or  more  efi"ective  defence 
against  all  assaults  than  the  fair  presentation  of  the 
"things  which  are  most  surely  believed  among  us."  Let 
the  truth  be  known,  and  it  shall  not  fail  of  victories. 

It  is  an  old  remark  that  the  adversaries  of  Christianity, 
since  certainly  they  are  unprepared  to  give  the  world  any 
positive  or  satisfactory  teachings  instead  of  those  they 
would  take  from  us,  have  the  least  possible  cause  for  wish- 
ing to  gain  converts  to  their  opinions ;  yet  few  are  so  eager 


10  PREFACE. 

as  they  to  have  men  adopt  their  views.  As  if  in  doubt 
themselves  of  the  truthfulness  of  their  affirmations,  they 
desire  to  gain  the  assent  of  other  minds ;  as  if  aware  that 
the  books  written  in  support  of  religion  cannot  be  syste- 
matically answered,  they  content  themselves  with  objec- 
tions against  particular  things,  and  these  repeated  with  a 
wearisome  and  stupid  pertinacity;  as  if  anxious  to  win 
proselytes  upon  any  terms,  they  catch  eagerly  at  the 
opportunity  of  dignifying  their  opinions  with  a  celebrated 
name;  and  so  they,  who  decry  all  authority,  yet  fortify 
their  cavillings  with  every  possible  authority,  and  strive  to 
make  their  cause  less  invidious  by  showing  upon  their  side 
as  large  numbers  of  as  high-sounding  names  as  possible.* 
This  description  of  what  the  adversaries  of  the  sacred 
writings  have  been,  is  as  true  of  what  they  are.  To  know 
how  numerous  and  strenuous  have  been  our  foes  in  the 
past;  what  has  been  the  prevaihng  temper  of  their  hostil- 
ity; what  we  may  expect  in  the  future;  and  what  there- 
fore are  the  chief  dangers  against  which  we  should  guard, 
may  serve  to  confirm  us  in  the  idea  that  simply  to  main- 
tain the  truth  is  the  church's  best  defence. 

"These  things  were  not  done  in  a  corner;"  said  an 
eloquent  advocate  of  Christianity  upon  an  important  public 
occasion.  And  his  words  belong  to  every  later,  and  indeed 
to  every  earlier  period  of  the  history  of  the  church.  No 
stolen  march  upon  the  world  has  given  influence  or  power 
to  teachings,  whose  well-known  tendency  is  to  awaken  the 
human  mind;  whose  pathway  in  long  centuries  is  marked 
by  conflicts  of  which  the  world  could  not  be  ignorant;  and 

*  Dr.  Johnson,  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne. 


PREFACE.  11 

yet  whose  enemies  are  chiefly  remembered,  because  their 
names  are  associated  with  the  happy  triumphs  and  the 
growing  strength  of  the  Christian  evidences.  Truth  has 
had  her  angry  foes  ever  since  the  unaccepted  offering  of 
the  first-born  of  man ;  the  long  succession  of  her  enemies 
may  be  traced  in  history  almost  as  clearly  as  the  succession 
of  her  friends;  this  includes  the  names  of  men  whose 
learning  and  position,  whose  zeal  and  intellectual  ability 
gave  promise  of  success  in  their  efforts  to  subvert  the 
foundations  of  the  church  of  Grod,  had  success  been  possi- 
ble in  such  an  enterprise;  and  it  seems  most  unlikely 
indeed,  that  any  new  enemies  should  ever  be  able  to  effect 
what  these  numerous  foes  have  done  so  little  to  accom- 
plish. We  may  expect  that  the  religious  history  of  our 
race,  like  our  social  experience,  should  present  problems 
substantially  the  same,  though  in  untried  and  perplexing 
forms,  to  each  generation.  Yet  we  do  not  anticipate  that 
darker  days  will  come  than  our  brethren  have  already 
known;  that  any  new  principles  must  be  taught  to  our 
children  beyond  those  we  already  profess ;  or  that  we  or 
they  have  before  us  any  fiercer  conflicts  than  already  have 
been  "accompHshed  in  our  brethren." 

That  period,  within  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  during  which  the  spread  and  power  of  Deism 
filled  England  especially,  with  gloom,  may  well  be  recalled 
to  our  minds  for  its  profitable  lessons.  Because  of  its 
origin,  spirit,  and  results;  because  also  of  the  strength 
imparted  to  the  evidences  of  Christianity  by  the  stern  con- 
flicts forced  upon  the  friends  of  truth,  scarcely  any  portion 
of  ecclesiastical  history  is  better  worthy  of  our  careful 


12  PREFACE. 

study.  It  was  indeed  a  period  of  religious  decline.  Ho^ 
dolorous  seems  the  key-note  of  lamentation  struck  forth  by 
the  fingers  of  an  eminent  prelate,  in  the  dark  days,  when 
Christianity  seemed  almost  to  exist  by  sufferance.  "It 
has  come,  I  know  not  how,"  says  Bishop  Butler,  in  the 
preface  to  his  immortal  "Analogy,"  "to  be  taken  for 
granted,  by  many  persons,  that  Christianity  is  not  so  much 
as  a  subject  of  inquiry ;  but  that  it  is  now,  at  length,  dis- 
covered to  be  fictitious.  And  accordingly  they  treat  it,  as 
if,  in  the  present  age,  this  were  an  agreed  point,  among 
all  people  of  discernment It  is  not  how- 
ever so   CLEAR  A  CASE  THAT  THERE  IS  NOTHING  IN  IT." 

Could  so  intelligent  a  writer  have  penned  such  a  sentence, 
except  in  a  timS  of  deep  darkness  upon  the  land ;  except 
as  infidelity  had  not  only  reached  a  large,  but  almost  a 
dominant  power  over  the  intelligent  and  influential  minds 
of  England?  Yet  his  words  are  in  wide  contrast  with  the 
defiant  tones,  in  which  Bishop  Warburton,  twenty  years 
later,  boldly  told  the  free-thinkers  that  he  was  ready  to 
meet  them  upon  a  fair  field,  having  no  love  for  their 
cause,  no  fear  of  the  abilities  they  used  in  its  support; 
careless  of  their  praises ;  and  even  ready  to  glory  in  their 
censures. 

It  does  not  fall  in  with  the  design  of  this  preface  to 
sketch  the  history  of  that  gloomy  period.  A  chief  pur- 
pose in  making  this  mention  of  it,  is  to  recall  the  cheering 
truth,  that  as  the  origin  and  the  results  of  the  infidel  phi- 
losophy in  these  centuries  was  the  abounding  of  irreligion, 
so  the  controversies  then  awakened  stirred  the  sluggish 
church  to  a  new  and  vigorous  life;  and  thus  turned  out 


PREFACE.  13 

* '  rather  unto  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel. ' '  Unquestion- 
ably, on  the  one  hand,  the  corruption  of  public  morals  upon 
the  restoration  of  the  profligate  Charles  II.  to  the  English 
throne,  was  a  chief  source  of  these  false  principles.  Just 
as  certainly,  upon  the  other  hand,  the  fearful  scenes  that 
convulsed  Europe,  and  that  especially  belonged  to  the 
French  revolution  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  were  the 
legitimate  offspring  of  the  same  philosophy.  It  is  not  an 
easy  thing  for  us  to  comprehend  how  fierce  were  the  con- 
troversies of  those  times.  We  are  prone  to  magnify  the 
fears  that  address  our  own  hearts  and  the  dangers  our  own 
eyes  see ;  we  cannot  conceive  the  swelling  heights  of  their 
tides  of  irreligion  and  skepticism.  Yet  as  the  retiring 
flood  often  leaves  upon  the  shore  the  proofs  of  its  might, 
in  the  huge  drifts  which  no  ordinary  storm  could  move ;  so 
a  few  facts  from  the  abundant  records  of  that  conflict  be- 
tween falsehood  and  truth,  may  illustrate  the  fierceness  of 
the  strife.  Among  the  promoters  of  infidel  sentiments,  no 
name  deserves  mention,  for  priority  in  time  or  in  ability, 
beyond  that  of  Thomas  Hobbes.  Yet  is  he  but  an  exam- 
ple to  remind  us  of  the  activities  awakened  by  writings 
such  as  his.  "Against  Hobbes,  says  Warburton,  the 
whole  church  militant  took  up  arms.  The  answers  to  the 
Leviathan  would  form  a  library.  "^  The  same  may  be  said 
of  every  writer  whose  ability  or  notoriety  seemed  worthy 
of  reply ;  and  of  many  whose  notoriety  at  the  end  of  a  cen- 
tury was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  been  answered. 
Thirty-five  answers  were  made  to  Collins  within  two 
years;   thirty  thousand  copies  of  Woolston's  discourses 

*  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  View,  &c. 
Vol.  I.— 2 


14  PREFACE. 

were  sold — an  immense  issue  in  those  times — and  sixty 
replies  were  made  to  them ;  while  more  than  a  hundred 
authors  wrote  in  refutation  of  TindaL  Let  these  inci- 
dents suffice  to  show  the  earnestness  with  which  the 
assaults  of  those  times  were  met,  on  the  part  of  the 
friends  of  truth. 

Of  the  character  of  these  discussions  we  need  not  speak ; 
yet  would  it  be  unjust  to  the  cause  of  religion  to  forget  the 
distinct  allegation  that  but  little  credit  is  due  to  the  infidel 
writers  of  every  age  upon  the  score  of  sincere  efforts  to 
reach  the  truth  in  their  discussions.  Infidelity  is  of  the 
heart  rather  than  of  the  head.  After  giving  a  sketch  of 
the  prevailing  sentiment  among  them  an  excellent  writer 
remarks :  ' '  The  sum  of  the  whole  is  this :  modern  unbe- 
lievers are  Deists  in  theory,  Pagans  in  inclination,  and 
Atheists  in  practice."*  We  need  not  affirm  that  a  candid, 
or  at  least  a  sincere,  rejecter  of  the  sacred  writings  is  an 
impossible  character.  But  certainly  the  usual  path  to 
infidelity  is  not  through  the  serious  and  earnest  investiga- 
tions that  befit  rational  men;  its  usual  tendencies  are 
downward  to  all  that  degrades  both  public  and  private 
morals;  and  its  usual  characteristics  are  not  such  as  to 
inspire  any  large  degree  of  respect  for  its  advocates. 
These  charges  have  often  been  made  before;,  the  well- 
known  words  of  Rousseau  may  prove  them,  though  he  is 
as  liable  himself  to  similar  censures ;  and  they  are  as  pal- 
pably true  before  the  eyes  of  the  world  as  they  ever  have 
been.  Bishop  Colenso  exhibits  no  new  phase  of  infidel 
ethics,  when  he  openly  attacks  the  foundations  of  Christi- 

*  A.  Fuller's  "Works,  i.  111. 


PREFACE.  15 

anity,  yet  persistently  professing  his  attachment  to  the 
church,  holding  his  place  among  the  prelates  of  the  estab- 
lishment, and  receiving  the  honours  and  emoluments  that 
pertain  to  this  office. 

It  may  be  said,  that  the  controversy  between  faith  and 
unbelief  is  one  of  grand  principles:  that  peculiarities  of 
personal  character  and  conduct  have  but  little  to  do  in  set- 
tling it;  and  that  dangerous  opinions  owe  their  importance 
chiefly  to  the  interests  they  put  in  jeopardy.  But,  on  the 
one  hand,  we  are  unwilling  to  allow  that  the  manifest  ten- 
dency of  certain  principles  must  be  laid  aside  from  our 
thoughts,  when  the  very  thing  in  controversy  involves  the 
highest  morality ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  character  of 
our  ^opponents  usually  determines  how  the  discussion  of 
our  differences  may  be  best  conducted.  The  advocates  of 
Christianity  have  not  shrunk  back,  in  other  days,  nor  in 
our  own,  from  the  closest  encounters  with  error.  And  not 
a  few  good  results  have  sprung  from  the  struggles  of  the 
past.  We  have  said  that  the  evidences  of  Christianity  re- 
ceived large  support  from  the  conflicts  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries;  we  may  add  that  better  views 
have  succeeded  the  extreme  literary  skepticism  that  pre- 
vailed a  few  years  ago  in  Grermany ;  and  we  have  recently 
read  that  the  Life  of  Jesus  by  M.  Renan  has  induced 
many  European  Jews  to  read  the  true  history,  as  given  in 
the  Gospels,  through  their  desire  to  compare  the  teachings 
of  the  New  Testament  with  the  misrepresentations  of  the 
French  professor.  We  would  fairlj^  meet  every  opposer ;  and 
yet  there  are  ways  of  upholding  the  truth  though  we  say 
little  against  the  cavillings  of  foes,  whom  we  cannot  rcsi)ect. 


16  PREFACE. 

We  bave  said  that  fairly  to  present  the  truth  is  a  most 
eflFective  defence  against  the  assaults  of  error.  There  are 
many  reasons  for  this.  We  mean  no  comparison  between 
the  external  and  the  internal  evidences  of  Christianity.  We 
affirm  that  all  the  genuine  arguments  to  support  the  truth 
are  in  harmony ;  and  that  no  advocate  of  Christianity  is  at 
liberty  to  make  light  of  any  evidences  to  maintain  it.  Yet 
circumstances  must  govern  the  wise  presentation  of  the 
truth,  either  to  convince  or  persuade:  and  he  may  be 
faithful  whose  teachings  are  far  from  complete.  Let  the 
errorist  be  directly  attacked ;  let  the  ignorant  be  carefully 
instructed;  let  the  serious  Christian  make  himself  ac- 
quainted, as  fully  as  possible,  with  the  reasons  for  our 
hopes,  and,  in  the  best  sense,  be  ever  ready  to  answer  every 
gainsayer.  1  Pet.  iii.  15.  But  the  present  aspects  of 
skepticism  demand  that  we  should  place  the  careful  exhi- 
bition of  truth  itself  among  our  prominent  means  of  dis- 
seminating truth,  and  allow  the  living  word  to  be  its  own 
defence.  Let  men  know  what  the  Scriptures  teach. 
They  who  will  not  read  such  writings  may  not  be  expected 
to  read  upon  Christian  evidences;  and  those  who  wish 
truly  to  understand  the  reasons  of  our  faith  can  find  no 
better  than  the  faith  itself  affords. 

We  especially  mean  to  say  that  in  the  changing  as- 
pects of  infidelity,  the  latest  form  of  skepticism  demands 
that  we  should  exhibit,  more  clearly  than  ever,  the  glori- 
ous system  of  revealed  truth.  Infidelity  now  feels  the 
want  of  warm  and  life-giving  principles  that  shall  satisfy 
the  religious  cravings  of  the  heart.  We  do  not  question 
that  the  knowledge  of  Christian  truth  quickens  these  irre- 


PREFACE.  17 

pressible  aspirations;  as  we  are  very  certain  that  the  Bible 
alone  can  satisfy  them.  Divine  truth  is  like  light:  "it 
reveals  itself  and  other  things;"  it  shines  indirectly  where 
it  does  not  shine  directly ;  the  clear  statement  of  truth  is 
an  argument  for  the  truth;  and  the  friends  of  religion  have 
ever  claimed  that  a  self-evidencing  power  belongs  to  the 
word  of  God.  It  is  impossible  that  men  should  have  even 
an  imperfect  knowledge  of  true  religion  without  the  quick- 
ening of  the  conscience:  and  it  is  impossible  that  the  con- 
science should  be  truly  satisfied  but  through  the  teachings 
God  has  revealed  for  that  end.  Infidelity  in  our  age  has 
been  forced  to  the  confession  that  man  has  religious  wants ; 
and  to  an  intelligent  mind  nothing  seems  more  lamentable 
than  the  strenuous  eflforts  which  skeptics  make  to  persuade 
themselves  and  their  disciples  that  religion  would  lose 
nothing  in  the  overthrow  of  Christianity.  In  this  state  of 
things  the  truth  has  everything  to  gain  by  the  fair  presen- 
tation, less  of  the  grounds  of  our  faith,  than  of  our  faith 
itself.  Let  men  know  what  the  Bible  teaches,  and  they  will 
be  more  than  prepared  to  detect  the  untruthfulness  of  the 
infidel  arguments.  They  can  indeed  see  the  refutations  of 
infidelity  in  its  very  statements ;  for  when  M.  Renan  says, 
that  Jesus  did  not  intend  to  work  miracles  but  assumed  to 
do  so  to  gratify  the  demands  of  the  age,  and  yet  makes  him 
"the  incomparable  man  to  whom  the  universal  conscience 
defers  as  a  teacher,"  he  but  betrays  the  unavoidable  incon- 
sistency of  all  who  do  not  receive  and  acknowledge  the  en- 
tire claims  of  the  Pre-eminent  One.  But  they  who  truly 
know  the  Scriptures  can  do  more  than  detect  inconsisten- 
cies and  false  reasonings.     They  are  ready  to  compare  true 

2  » 


18  PREFACE. 

religioD  with  its  shadow;  the  living,  breathing  form,  with 
the  cold  misshapen  manikin.  Infidelity  is  not  a  system, 
and  can  never  be  fashioned  into  any  agreement  with  itself. 
Not  only  are  its  affirmations  capricious  and  arbitrary  as 
any  reveries  of  a  disordered  imagination,  its  teachings 
changeful  and  contradictory,  its  promises  vague  in  expres- 
sion and  deceitful  in  performance,  and  its  advocates  not 
even  respectful  to  each  other ;  but  it  has  nothing  to  meet 
the  deep  necessities  of  the  human  soul.  A  poor,  dying 
woman,  was  lately  surrounded  by  the  miserable  counsel- 
lors, whose  teachings  had  led  her  to  their  hopeless  creed, 
and  in  her  latest  unhappy  moments  was  exhorted  by  them 
to  hold  on.  "I  am  willing  to  hold  on,"  said  she,  "if  you 
will  only  tell  me  what  I  must  hold  to!" 

Let  the  consistent  teachings  of  the  Bible,  a  grand  system 
of  truth,  whose  efficacy  has  been  known  for  ages,  be  set 
before  the  minds  of  men ;  and  it  will  commend  itself  ' '  to 
every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  Grod."  As  "they 
that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician,"  men  may  neglect 
these  teachings  in  their  hours  of  pride :  yet  thousands  of 
men  can  never  be  infidels  in  view  of  what  they  know  of 
Christianity ;  and  in  times  of  change,  sorrow,  and  serious- 
ness, the  heart  will  crave  the  consolations  which  only  Di- 
vine revealings  can  afford.  Not  only  is  there  a  siniplicity 
in  all  the  Scriptural  teachings  well  adapted  to  secure  confi- 
dence in  them — as  the  mien  of  a  witness  has  as  much  to  do 
with  our  confidence  in  him  as  his  words ;  but  there  is  an 
adaptation  in  these  truths  to  awaken  and  to  satisfy  the 
souls  of  men,  that  can  never  pertain  to  falsehood.  And  it 
is  the  more  important  to  make  these  teachings  known, 


PREFACE.  19 

because  every  man  in  our  communities  has  personal  ac- 
quaintances, whose  characters  he  is  compelled  to  respect, 
and  whose  professions,  comforts,  activities  and  hopes  are 
intelligible  only  when  he  also  knows  the  holy  principles 
from  which  they  spring.  We  cannot  separate' faith  and 
unbelief  from  their  manifest  fruits  around  us.  We  are 
content  to  abide  by  this  test. 

Here  we  may  interpose  a  few  words  concerning  the  sci- 
entific infidelity  of  modern  days.  We  can  understand  how 
an  ardent  mind,  enlisted  in  the  zealous  pursuit  of  truth, 
having  but  a  small  acquaintance  with  the  vast  evidences 
that  support  the  Christian  system,  and  filled  with  preju- 
dices because  the  claims  of  science  are  sometimes  denied, 
might  be  arrayed  in  opposition  to  the  Scriptures :  though 
we  cannot  allow  that  any  wise  man  can  esteem  the  recon- 
ciliation of  religion  and  science  as  a  trivial  matter;  nor 
count  him  a  good  man  who  is  indifferent  to  the  high  claims 
of  the  Bible.  It  could  scarcely  be  otherwise  than  that 
science  and  religion  in  our  times  should  have  their  appar- 
ent conflicts;  new  questions  must  spring  up  when  the 
wonderful  discoveries  of  our  age  are  compared  with  teach- 
ings, the  "latest  of  which  are  eighteen  centuries  old:  for 
the  exact  reconciliation  of  matters  which  at  first  are  but 
half  understood  on  either  side,  no  man  was  prepared ;  and 
the  chief  thing  needfal  for  all  concerned  is  to  possess  a 
patient,  truth-loving  spirit.  Doubtless  much  strife  has 
arisen  here  from  a  double  ignorance,  first  of  what  the  Scrip- 
tures really  affirm ;  and  next  of  what  true  science  affirms ; 
as  we  compare  the  exact  truth  of  both  with  what  their  re- 
spective votaries  have  said  on  their  behalf    The  friends 


20  PREFACE. 

of  the  Bible,  while  refusing  what  it  has  been  thought  to 
teach,  may  abide  by  its  true  teachings.  Christians  have 
been  mistaken  in  their  understanding  of  the  Scriptures; 
scientific  men  have  made  serious  mistakes  touching  sci- 
ence ;  and  both  have  been  at  times  misrepresented.  *  We 
feel  confident  that  all  the  apparent  issues  between  the 
Bible  and  science  can  be  settled,  when  both  are  fairly 
understood;  because,  we  doubt  not,  God  is  the  Author  of 
both.  Here  is  room  for  serious,  candid  discussion;  -and 
earnest  men  should  be  met  in  this  spirit.  Let  not  the 
friends  of  religion  be  timid  at  the  investigations  and  pro- 
gress of  science ;  let  not  the  devotees  of  science  exult  at  the 
seeming  overthrow  of  religion.  The  result  will  show  that 
both  are  in  the  wrong :  and  in  looking  forward  to  the  full 
adjustment  of  all  these  questions,  "he  that  believeth  shall 
not  make  haste." 

We  are  free  to  confess  that  we  fear  infidelity;  all  its 
cavillings,  and  especially  the  seasons  of  its  abounding. 
Yet  not  because  of  its  superior  arguments,  or  of  the  dan- 
ger of  its  ultimate  prevalence  over  religion.     We  fear  it, 

-••  It  seems  singular  that  so  many  writers  should  copy  the  charge 
of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  (Religion  and  Geology,  p.  11,)  against  Francis 
Turrettine,  an  eminent  theologian  of  the  sixteenth  century,  that  he 
maintained  with  nice  logic,  the  revolution  of  the  sun  around  the 
earth.  No  such  thesis  can  be  found  in  his  works.  It  appears  in  a 
compend  of  Turrettine,  which  was  partly  taken  from  the  works  of 
Leonardo  Ryssenius,  and  not  published  till  after  the  death  of  Tur- 
rettine himself.  Doubtless  this  was  the  opinion  of  his  time;  but  he 
should  be  held  responsible  only  for  his  own  writings.  The  compend 
adds  other  topics,  not  in  Turrettine's  works. 


PREFACE.  21 

just  as  we  do  a  pestilence  or  a  contagious  disease.  For 
these  we  may  have  physicians  g.nd  remedies ;  yet  may  they 
prove  fatal  to  many  of  our  children  or  our  neighbours,  in 
spite  of  all  sanitary  precautions.  Infidelity  ruins  the  souls 
of  men ;  this  is  cause  enough  to  dread  its  power  even  over 
one  person.  But  that  it  springs  from  human  depravity, 
that  it  addresses  the  fallen  heart  of  man,  and  that  its 
power  is  increased  by  its  downward  tendencies — as  it  is 
ever  easier  to  destroy  than  to  build  up — may  make  us  fear 
it  more.  And  these  very  considerations  give  sufficient 
proofs  that  our  conflicts  with  infidelity,  as  they  have  lasted 
all  the  hfe-time  of  the  church,  so  cannot  be  confined  to 
any  place  or  time,  but  shall  be  continued  as  long  as  the 
earthly  church  stands. 

There  may  be  strange  changes  hereafter,  as  there  have 
been,  in  the  attitudes  of  the  assaulting  forces.  The  very 
arguments,  by  which  Celsus  would  have  overthrown  Chris- 
tianity, are  now  conceded  as  among  the  prime  elements 
demanded  in  proof  of  its  Divine  origin;  for  indeed  the 
gospel  has  created  a  public  sentiment  in  Christendom, 
which  its  enemies  would  fain  ascribe  to  the  teachings  of 
nature.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Pagan  philosopher,*  no  mean 
judge  of  what  man  can  know  without  revelation,  a  gospel 
preached  to  the  poor  and  proposing  to  bring  the  race  to 
receive  the  same  religious  teachings,  was  the  very  height 
of  absurdity !  Yet  infidelity  is  ready  now  to  concede  that 
the  gospel  should  be  irrespective  of  persons,  and  that  a 
Grod  who  is  not  for  all  the  earth  is  for  none  of  it.  So  Cel- 
sus acknowledged  the  historical  verity  of  the  Christian 

*  Neander's  Church  History,  i.  90. 


90 


PREFACE. 


miracles,  but  maintained  that  they  proved  nothing;  while 
modern  infidelity,  despairing  of  all  efi"orts  to  invalidate 
this  proof  by  historical  deductions,  and  unable  to  deny  the 
just  inferences  from  it,  if  admitted,  contents  itself  with  a 
metaphysical  sophistry  that  denies  the  possibility  of  mira- 
cles. But  whatever  changes  may  occur,  let  us  not  expect 
the  overthrow  of  skepticism.  We  often  hear  the  assertion 
that  the  battle  of  Christian  evidences  is  to  be  fought  out 
on  this  or  that  field.  Let  no  man  dream  of  this.  De- 
feated, our  enemies  often  will  be,  as  they  have  been.  But 
the  church  begins  a  new  strife  with  each  new  age  of  men. 
As  it  is  impossible  so  to  convert  any  generation  that  we 
shall  not  need  to  preach  repentance  to  their  successors ;  as 
every  man  needs  regeneration,  no  matter  what  may  have 
been  the  faith  of  his  fathers ;  so  this  battle  is  with  human 
depravity ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  shall  see 
the  end  of  the  strife,  until  men  no  longer  inherit  the  fallen 
nature  of  our  unhappy  family. 

This  however  is  our  comfort,  that  infidel  activities,  even 
aggressions,  do  not  prove  the  decline  of  the  church  of  God. 
Usually  they  precede  or  attend  unusual  activities  among  be- 
lieving men.  Some  of  the  most  glorious  revivals  of  piety 
have  been  preceded  by  prevailing  skepticism.  The  corrup- 
tions of  the  apostate  church  gave  origin  to  much  of  this, 
which  rapidly  disappeared  before  the  powerful  preaching  of 
the  Reformers;  in  the  midst  of  the  English  Deism  began 
that  great  revival  in  which  Whitefield  and  the  Wesleys  bore 
so  large  a  part :  the  missionary  enterprises  of  these  modern 
times  took  their  rise  in  the  \QYy  height  of  the  French  rev- 
olution ;  some  of  the  most  remarkable  awakenings  of  the 


PREFACE.  23 

western  continent  have  taken  place  in  times  of  deep  de- 
pression ;  and  the  church  often  calls  forth  hostilities  by  the 
very  zeal  that  maintains  her  own  life.  Infidelity  has  often 
been  the  pioneer  of  religion ;  has  abounded  when  reHgion 
was  advancing;  and  often  gives  token  of  the  activities 
of  the  church. 

We  acknowledge  the  high  importance  of  controversial 
writings  wisely  prepared.  But  because  no  particular 
phase  of  infidelity  holds  long  dominion  over  the  minds  of 
men ;  because  persons,  already  skeptically  inclined,  seldom 
care  to  hear  calm  discussions  or  to  read  religious  books; 
because  also  of  the  thoughts  already  suggested,  we  reach 
this  conclusion ;  that  the  best  antidote  for  infidelity  is  the 
careful  instruction  of  our  families  in  the  simple  teachings 
of  God's  word.  A  mind  well  acquainted  with  what  the 
Bible  really  says,  is  fortified  against  the  cavillings  of  error. 
The  objections  of  Colenso  and  Renan  betray  a  carping  tem- 
per that  must  disgust  an  intelligent  and  serious  student : 
they  are  founded  upon  misconceptions  that  would  not  have 
occurred  to  men  fit  to  teach  others :  it  is  hard  to  consent 
that  they  are  candidly  uttered. 

These  pages  are  designed  to  make  their  readers  better 
acquainted  with  Moses  and  his  inspired  teachings.  So 
doing,  they  will  vindicate  his  claims  to  our  confidence. 
Yet  objections  may  be  made,  which  even  a  well  taught  dis- 
ciple cannot  answer;  all  this  without  disturbing  in  the 
least  his  well  grounded  faith.  The  truth  of  religion — as 
Bishop  Butler  forcibly  remarks — is  to  be  judged  of,  by  the 
force  of  all  the  arguments  taken  together.  And  we  may 
add,  that  yet  more  unanswerable  objections  wait  upon  the 


24  PREFACE. 

denial  of  it!  Beyond  question  we  have  no  means  to  use 
for  establishing  the  authority  of  the  sacred  writings  at  all 
to  be  compared  with  the  teachings  which  make  us  better 
understand  the  Scriptures  themselves.  A  knowledge  of 
the  Bible  is  the  Bible's  strong  defence;  an  intelligent 
mind  joined  to  a  loving  heart  can  make  these  defences 
impregnable. 


THE  HEBREW  LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER   I. 

MOSES  AND  mS  BIOGMAPHY. 

"Pai-t  not  with  these  old  names,  each  one  of  which 
Bears  in  its  bosom  precious  histories, 
The  life-deeds  and  death-conflicts  of  the  men 
From  out  whose  loins  we  spring,  the  men  of  might 
And  wisdom,  who  have  won  such  victories 
Of  truth  for  us."  Bonar. 

Profitable  teacbiDgs  must  ever  awaken  deep 
interest  in  the  minds  they  address.  A  connected 
train  of  events  is  well  adapted  to  secure  the  atten- 
tion, and  we  acquire  knowledge  with  the  most  ease 
and  pleasure  when  it  is  associated  with  historical 
or  personal  narration.  And  doubtless  the  greatest 
degree  of  interest  is  secured  when  the  history  re- 
fers to  one  particular  object :  when  the  single  ob- 
ject is  presented  to  us  like  a  vast  painting  from 
the  hand  of  a  skilful  artist.  A  great  historical  or 
imaginative  painting  may  be  crowded  with  various 
figures  ;  we  may  study  each  person  and  thing  sepa- 
rately ;  we  may  read  individual  character  and  the 
ruling  thought  of  the  time  in  each  face ;  we  could 

Vol.  I.— 3  26 


2G  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

not  regard  it  as  an  interesting  painting  if  we  saw 
manifest  blemishes,  even  in  the  minor  figures  or 
expressions  ;  and  yet,  as  a  painting,  it  must  ex- 
press one  thought  from  the  artist's  mind  :  usually 
there  is  one  chief  figure  occupying  the  foreground, 
drawing  the  principal  attention  to  itself,  and  giving 
character  to  the  whole  from  the  interest  that  at- 
taches to  this  chief  thing.  The  most  exquisite  fin- 
ish of  the  separate  parts,  without  a  definite  object 
in  the  whole,  could  not  secure  our  interest,  or  give 
us  the  highest  pleasure.  Yet  things  in  themselves 
incongruous,  or  even  unsightly,  may  be  grouped 
together  with  pleasing  eff'ect,  if  we  can  see  the  in- 
telligent design  of  the  mind  that  placed  them  there. 
In  Hogarth's  last  painting,  "The  End  of  all  things," 
there  is  an  ingenious  collection  of  objects  that  have 
no  possible  bond  of  connection,  except  just  what 
the  great  artist  wished  to  signify.* 

It  is  because  our  interest  thus  easily  gathers 
around  a  particular  and  definite  object,  that  a  uni- 
versal history  is  less  interesting  than  the  history 
of  some  particular  nation  ;  that  in  reading  a  na- 
tional history,  we  feel  specially  interested  in  the 
scenes  of  some  eventful  period,  or  the  exploits  of 
some  particular  hero ;  and  that  the  biographies 
of  eminent  men  are  ever  read  with  interest.  Fic- 
titious writings — such  as  novels  and  dramas — de- 
rive their  popularity  from  the  bold  relief  in  which 
they  hold   forth   a  special  person ;   and  the  more 

■^  Lossing's  Hist.  Fine  Arts,  251. 


MOSES    AND    HIS    BIOGRAPHY.  27 

the  readers  can  be  made  to  sympathize  with  this 
principal  personage,  the  greater  is  the  success  of 
the  volume.  Deprive  such  writings  of  the  central 
figure ;  make  the  scenes  in  which  he  acts  totally 
unlikely  and  unnatural ;  prevent  the  reader  from 
sympathizing  with  the  hero,  and  he  is  easily  dis- 
gusted with  the  story.  But  unhappily,  both  in  the 
writers  and  readers  of  fiction,  morbid  tastes  are  too 
easily  acquired ;  the  mind  may  be  trained  to  love 
the  romantic ;  and  real  life,  and  life's  most  impor- 
tant duties  are  made  tasteless  by  books  that  have 
nothing  in  them  of  value  and  interest  except  as 
they  gratify  a  diseased  imagination. 

Except  for  those  who  have  spoiled  the  mind's 
healthful  appetite  by  the  dissipation  of  romance- 
reading,  every  superiority  belongs  to  those  truthful 
teachings  which  bring  before  us  a  real  character, 
and  give  us  a  truthful  delineation  of  the  events  of 
his  life.  Truth  is  at  once  the  pleasure  and  the 
food  of  the  soul.  When  we  read  fact,  not  fancy, 
truths,  not  tales,  we  need  not  dismiss  the  thoughts 
as  soon  as  they  pass  through  the  mind ;  but  we 
may  live  upon  them,  and  we  grow  by  them.  And 
as  some  times  are  more  worthy  than  others  of  the 
historian's  pen:  because  their  incidents  are  of  more 
intrinsic  interest,  because  they  teach  us  more  im- 
portant lessons,  and  because  they  have  exerted  a 
larger  influence  upon  subsequent  history  :  so  some 
men  stand  forth  in  past  generations  groat  in  char- 
acter, great  in  deeds,  great  in  principles  recorded 


28  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

upon  enduring  pages,  great  in  influence  upon  their 
own  and  later  times  ;  and  thus  worthy  of  reverence 
in  all  succeeding  generations. 

Few  names  in  the  history  of  the  past  are  worthy 
of  more  respect ;  few  lives  possess  a  more  romantic 
interest ;  few  times  have  been  so  critical,  or  have 
exerted  a  larger  influence  upon  later  ages,  than 
the  name,  and  life,  and  times  of  the  great  Law- 
giver of  the  Jewish  people. 

The  intellectual  capacity  of  this  most  remarkable 
man  we  can  learn  not  only  from  the  great  things 
he  accomplished  for  his  people,  but  also  from  his 
writings,  the  most  ancient  and  the  most  remarkable 
which  the  world  possesses.  His  high  and  disin- 
terested patriotism  is  manifest,  from  the  noble  hour 
when  he  threw  from  his  own  neck  the  golden  yoke 
he  might  have  worn,  perhaps  even  upon  the  Egyptian 
throne,  until  he  broke  the  iron  bondage  that  held 
his  race  in  slavery,  and  led  them  towards  the  land 
so  long  promised  to  them  in  the  covenant  of  God. 
We  may  see  his  love  for  his  people  in  a  hundred 
lessons  of  forbearance  with  their  perverseness  ;  of 
pleadings  for  their  forgiveness  with  an  off'ended 
God ;  and  of  steadfast  refusal  ever  to  secure  a  pri- 
vate end  at  the  cost  of  public  duty.  His  eminent 
piety  began  with  the  cheerful  renunciation  of 
Egyptian  pleasures  and  prospects  ;  was  maintained 
by  a  holy  intercourse  such  as  man  never  before 
held  face  to  face  with  God ;  and  calls  us  yet  to 
gratitude  for  the  assurance  that  the  Divine  conde- 


MOSES    AND    HIS    BIOGRAPHY.  29 

scension  ever  stoops  so  low  to  meet  the  longings 
of  the  human  heart.  His  life,  beyond  that  of  any- 
other  man,  abounds  in  great  scenes.  Born  at  an 
eventful  time,  preserved  and  educated  in  a  remark- 
able manner,  and  spending  the  very  prime  of  his 
years  in  engagements  of  which  we  know  nothing, 
and  which  were  of  insignificant  importance,  except 
as  they  formed  his  training  for  affairs  of  the  great- 
est moment ;  at  an  age  when  most  men  have  fin- 
ished their  work  and  look  forward  to  the  grave,  he 
entered  upon  the  period  of  his  active  life.  Forty 
years  were  passed  in  wondrous  doings.  And  at 
the  end  of  this  time,  his  death  alone  in  the  presence 
of  his  God ;  his  burial  by  the  hands  of  his  Maker ; 
and  the  concealment  of  his  resting-place  from  the 
knowledge  of  mortals,  may  be  regarded  as  the  fit- 
ting close  of  so  strange  a  history.  Surely  it  is  not 
for  lack  of  interesting  incidents  if  our  attention  is 
not  awakened,  as  we  attempt  to  contemplate  the 
Life  of  the  Jewish  Lawgiver. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  we  may  regard  Moses 
as  the  Founder  of  the  Jewish  Nation.  It  was 
not  indeed  until  after  his  time  that  they  had  any 
land  they  could  call  their  own  ;  even  during  the 
bondage  in  Egypt,  they  had  their  elders,  and  prin- 
ciples and  laws  to  bind  them  together ;  but  they 
had  never  lived  separate  from  other  nations  until 
he  led  them  forth  into  the  desert  ;  their  numbers 
had  before  been  too  insignificant  to  rank  them  in 
the  class  of  nations  ;  and  a  formal  national  govern- 


30  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

ment  was  secured  to  them  at  the  foot  of  Sinai. 
Four  hundred  years  had  more  than  passed  since 
God  had  called  Abram  forth  from  Ur  of  the  Chal- 
dees ;  had  chosen  him  for  his  friend,  Jas.  ii.  23 ; 
and  had  given  him  promises  of  blessings  in  days 
to  come.  These  promises  included  the  fulfilment 
through  Abraham  of  more  ancient  promises  already 
given  to  the  church  of  God.  Especially  they  in- 
cluded the  descent  through  Abraham  of  the  Seed 
of  the  Woman,  predicted  in  the  earliest  revelation 
after  the  fall  of  man,  Gen.  iii.  15.  Gal.  iii.  16. 
This  prophecy  was  already  the  rallying  point  of 
hope,  and  faith,  and  joy,  around  which  believers 
of  every  age  had  gathered :  and  it  was  only  to  call 
forth  higher  faith  and  expectations  until  the  great 
day  when  its  fulfilment  would  unfold  the  fulness 
of  its  meaning.  The  increase  and  preservation  of 
his  family,  and  to  this  end  the  possession  of  the 
land  of  Canaan,  were  means  subsidiary  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  promise  in  Messiah's  coming  and  the 
heirship  of  the  world.     Rom.  iv.  13. 

We  need  not  marvel,  if  the  eye  of  the  strongest 
faith  could  scarcely  look  forward  through  so  many 
centuries  of  change  and  darkness  ;  if  the  Jewish 
fathers  put  a  carnal  and  insufficient  interpretation 
upon  the  promises  to  Abraham ;  and  if  even  yet, 
to  the  superficial  observer,  the  Jewish  church  seemed 
vested  with  privileges  and  honoured  with  powers 
exclusively  for  themselves,  and  not  as  temporary 
trustees,   preserving   oracles,    and   principles,   and 


MOSES   AND    HIS   BIOGRAPHY.  31 

promises,  to  bless  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  But 
let  us  not  adopt  a  theory  so  inadequate  to  solve 
the  questions  which  gather  around  these  great 
promises  of  God  :  so  far  short  of  the  clear  explana- 
tions of  Paul  the  Apostle — a  name  not  less  to  be 
held  in  honour  in  the  church  of  God  than  that  of 
Moses. 

The  Blessed  Promise  first  spoken  in  the  ears 
of  Adam,  renewed  in  solemn  covenant  with  Abra- 
ham, the  great  burden  of  all  the  old  Testament 
teachings,  could  not  find  its  fulfilment  in  that  econ- 
omy, nor  within  the  narrow  confines  of  Judea.  It 
did  not  give  the  Heir  himself  until  the  Messiah 
came.  Gal.  iii.  16 :  the  covenant  made  of  God  with 
Abraham,  promising  that  in  His  Seed  all  nations 
of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  Gen.  xii.  3,  xvii.  5, 
Gal.  iii.  8,  did  not  begin  its  greatest  triumphs  till 
the  subsequent  and  subordinate  covenant,  made 
with  Moses  at  Sinai,  was  ready  to  pass  away.  Gal. 
iii.  17-19,  Heb.  viii.  :  ever  since  the  fall  of  the 
Jewish  temple  and  the  abrogation  of  the  Levitical 
dispensation,  the  blessing  of  Abraham  comes  on 
the  Gentiles,  and  they  receive  the  Holy  Spirit; 
Gal.  iii.  14 ;  and  all  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ  yet  in  the  future,  are  part  of  the  blessing 
promised  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  through 
the  friend  of  God. 

But  if  Paul  can  truly  say  that  all  these  believers 
of  the  Old  Economy  received  not  the  promise,  be- 
cause God  gives  us  the  better  things  to  which  they 


32  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

but  looked  forward,  Heb.  xi.  89,  40,  we  may  also 
reckon  that  a  new  era  of  Jewish  history  begins  with 
Moses.  With  him  begins  the  distinctive  national 
existence.  To  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  God 
gave  in  Canaan  not  a  footbreadth  of  inheritance. 
Acts  vii.  5.  Even  if  we  suppose  that  Abraham 
was  already  the  head  of  a  tribe  when  he  came  from 
Ur  ;  that  the  "  three  hundred  and  eighteen  "  men 
capable  of  bearing  arms  spoken  of  in  one  place. 
Gen.  xiv.  14,  were  retainers  or  vassals;*  that  these 
continued  their  allegiance  to  his  sons  ;  and  without 
any  express  mention,  passed  down  with  Jacob  into 
Egypt,  still  they  were  rather  a  tribe  than  a  nation. 
When,  in  Egypt,  the  rule  of  a  single  patriarch  was 
exchanged  for  that  of  twelve,  and  the  people  in- 
creased greatly  in  number,  these  things  were  in 
preparation  for  their  further  history. 

Moses  was  their  first  Lawgiver.  The  constitu- 
tion adopted  at  Sinai  gave  them  first  an  existence 
truly  national.  Interpreting  the  whole  by  the  sub- 
sequent results,  and  by  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament,  we  may  see  the  Divine  design.  Moses 
and  his  Institutions  were  intermediate  between 
Abraham  and  Christ :  not  abrogating  the  covenant 
of  the  former,  but  passing  away  at  the  promised 
coming  of  the  latter.  The  Levitical  institutions 
embodied  principles  of  eternal  truth  that  could 
neither  wax  old  nor  pass  away,  Heb.  xii.  27 ;  but 
their  national  form  and  their  ceremonial  observ- 

*  Princeton  Review,  1860,  13. 


MOSES    AND    HIS    BIOGRAPHY.  33 

ances  were  to  last  from  the  setting  up  of  the  taber- 
nacle in  the  wilderness  only  until  the  types  should 
be  answered  in  the  coming  of  Him  to  whom  they  all 
gave  witness.  In  short,  the  Jewish  national  exist- 
ence, like  the  law  of  Moses,  was  to  last  till  the  Seed 
should  come  to  whom  the  promise  was  made.  So 
Jacob  predicted  on  his  dying  bed,  Gen.  xlix.  10. 
So  Paul  interprets  the  Covenant  made  with  Abra- 
ham. And  the  setting  up  of  the  Christian  church; 
and  the  manifest  dealings  of  God's  providence 
which  has  scattered  the  Jews  abroad  in  all  the 
earth  from  that  time  until  this,  without  a  ruler  or 
a  priest,  a  sacrifice  or  a  temple,  prove  the  Divine 
Purpose.  The  national  existence  of  Israel  under 
the  institutions  of  their  first  lawgiver,  was  to  be 
lost  when  the  Shiloh,  the  Messiah  came. 

Moses  is  the  great  character  of  the  Jewish  church. 
Yet  ^YE  have  no  ordinary  interest  in  him ;  for  he 
belongs  to  us  almost  as  truly  as  to  them.  The 
faith  of  Moses  is  substantially  our  faith.  The 
Books  of  Moses  are  our  inspired  instructors.  The 
Moral  Law  given  by  his  instrumentality  on  Sinai 
yet  remains,  the  perfect  rule  for  our  direction — un- 
rivalled in  the  felicitous  expression  of  all  that  man 
should  do ;  sanctioned  in  all  its  authority  by  every 
succeeding  prophet,  and  by  the  Son  of  God  him- 
self. Even  the  ritual  of  Moses  has  not  so  passed 
away  but  that  we  may  discern  the  precious  fore- 
shadowings  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  its  mysterious 
services  and  costly  oflerings.     Moses  stands  before 


34  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

US  far  more  than  a  Jew.  He  is  the  Lawgiver  for 
the  world ;  he  is  a  prophet  for  the  church  of  God. 
If  we  know  a  greater  than  Moses,  this  is  our  dis- 
tinguished privilege.  But  though  Moses  is  inferior 
to  Christ,  he  is  not  opposed  to  him.  He  who  truly 
believes  Moses,  must  believe  Christ  of  whom  he 
wrote,  John  v.  46 ;  we  may  learn  of  Moses,  and 
be  the  disciples  of  Jesus ;  and  the  very  song  of 
heaven  will  be  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb, 
Rev.  XV.  3. 


EGYPT   AND    EGYPTIAN    HISTORY.  35 


CHAPTER   II. 

JEGYTT  AJfjy  EGYFTIAJf  MISTOMY. 

"  Lost  is  thine  origin,  Mizraim,  hid  from  sight, 
Wrapped  in  the  mantle  of  a  rayless  night; 
Thee,  like  thy  sacred  river,  none  can  trace 
Back  to  thy  source,  or  tell  the  various  race 
Of  each  proud  monarch."  T.  C.  P. 

The  Life  of  Moses  stands  at  a  most  important 
point  in  history.  Just  here  two  great  highways 
of  human  travel  cross  each  other  ;  here  two  impor- 
tant ancient  nations  are  brought  together ;  and 
Moses  himself  stands  related  to  them  both  in  a 
most  remarkable  degree.  By  birth  a  native  of 
Egypt ;  by  training  acquainted  with  all  the  wisdom 
and  learning  of  that  great  people  ;  by  opportuni- 
ties invited  to  a  brilliant  career  of  honour  and  am- 
bition in  the  high  places  of  the  land,  such  as  rarely 
opens  before  the  youthful  mind  ;  he  was  yet  by 
race,  and  by  cheerful,  intelligent  choice,  a  thorough 
Hebrew ;  and  by  the  regenerating  grace  of  God, 
and  by  faith  in  the  promises  given  to  his  fathers, 
he  discerned  the  true  path  of  duty  and  honour,  of 
usefulness  and  renown  ;  and  with  an  energy  and 
perseverance  shown   by  few  men   and   excelled  by 


6b  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

none,  he  went  steadily  forward  to  that  lifework 
which  has  justly  recorded  his  name  among  the 
greatest  benefactors  of  his  people  and  of  the  world. 

Now  we  can  intelligently  consider  the  life  of 
such  a  man  only  when  we  make  ourselves  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  lands,  the  people,  and  the  times 
to  which  he  stood  so  remarkably  related.  The 
scenes  among  which  any  man  lives  are  intimately 
connected  with  our  knowledge  of  the  man.  It  has 
been  said  that  geography  and  narrative  are  like 
body  and  spirit ;  we  know  the  spirit  through  the 
matter,  in  the  use  of  which  it  makes  itself  visible. 
If  every  student  of  ancient  times  should  know 
something  of  Egypt ;  if  no  foreign  nation  is  more 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  therefore 
some  acquaintance  with  their  manners  and  history 
is  requisite  to  understand  what  is  said  of  the  Israel- 
ites themselves ;  especially  must  we  gain  some 
knowledge  of  his  native  land,  if  we  would  intelli- 
gently follow  the  footsteps,  and  understand  the 
character  and  life  of  Moses. 

Among  the  sources  of  geographical  information 
respecting  the  lands  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  it  is 
of  great  interest  and  importance  to  remember  that 
the  lands  themselves  still  remain.  Egypt  and 
Palestine,  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  Goshen  and 
the  Desert,  Sinai  and  Pisgah,  remain  as  they  were 
three  thousand  years  ago ;  but  little  change  has 
passed  over  the  natural  features  of  those  grand 
lands  ;  the  names  of  many  places  remain  the  same, 


EGYPT    AND    EGYPTIAN    HISTORY.  6i 

others  show  that  they  are  derived  from  the  ancient 
names,  and  others  are  associated  with  the  historical 
events  of  the  Scripture  history;  and  even  the  habits 
of  the  people  now  living  there  afford  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  sacred  narratives.  It  is  no  slight 
corroborative  proof  of  the  strict  veracity  of  the 
Scriptural  writers  that  they  were  evidently  so  fa- 
miliar with  the  lands,  and  the  times,  and  the  people 
they  describe.  Charges  of  inaccuracy  have  indeed 
been  made  ;  but  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  each 
particular  has  invariably  proved  the  Scriptures 
right,  and  the  carping  critics  wrong.  No  lands 
have  been  so  full  of  interest  to  the  civilized  portion 
of  mankind ;  none  have  been  so  much  visited,  so 
often  described,  so  carefully  compared  with  these 
ancient  descriptions.  Every  traveller  there  finds 
the  Bible  his  most  indispensable  handbook ;  and 
no  candid  man  fails  to  recognize  the  scenes  de- 
scribed in  it,  and  to  discern  that  the  writers  of 
Scripture  were  intimately  acquainted  with  the  lands 
and  people  of  whom  they  speak. 

The  Land  of  Egypt  occupies  the  north-eastern 
extremity  of  the  continent  of  Africa  ;  borders  upon 
both  the  Red  and  Mediterranean  Seas ;  and  hav- 
ing the  great  Desert  of  Sahara  on  the  south-west, 
is  divided  by  the  river  Nile,  flowing  from  the  south 
to  the  north.  In  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  the  country 
is  called  Mizraim,  Gen.  xlv.  20,  and  sometimes  the 
land  of  Ham,  Ps.  cvi.  22 ;  cv.  Mizraim  was  a  son 
of  Ham,  Gen.  x.  6,  and  his  descendants  first  settled 

Vol.  I. — 4 


do  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Egypt.  Some,  however,  otherwise  derive  Mizraitn, 
and  suppose  that  its  grammatical  form,  which  is  in 
the  dual  number,  refers  to  the  two  parts.  Upper 
and  Lower  Egypt,  into  which  the  country  was  often 
divided.*  So  far  as  the  Scriptural  history  in  the 
times  of  Moses  is  concerned,  we  have  chiefly  to  do 
with  Lower  Egypt.  There  the  Israelites  dwelt ; 
and,  though  during  part  of  their  bondage  one  king 
may  have  ruled  the  entire  land,  and  though  some  of 
them  may  have  been  sent  to  labour  in  Upper  Egypt, 
the  scenes  of  Moses'  labours  were  in  Lower  Egypt. 
Egypt  has  been  long  renowned  for  its  large  pop- 
ulation and  the  great  fertility  of  its  soil.  "  He- 
rodotus afiirms  that  20,000  populous  cities  existed 
in  Egypt  during  the  reign  of  Amasis  ;  Diodorus 
calculates  18,000  large  villages  and  towns. "f  But 
though  we  cannot  credit  either  of  these  statements, 
it  is  doubtless  true  that  the  ancient  population  was 
large.  The  fertility  of  the  country,  which  was  the 
result  of  careful  cultivation,  and  the  enriching  over- 
flowings of  the  river  Nile,  caused  the  land  to  receive 
the  name  of  "the  granary  of  the  world."  In  later 
times,  the  wretched  government  of  the  country, 
especially  since  it  has  passed  under  the  power  of 
the  Turks,  has  destroyed  all  enterprise  for  careful 
tillage ;  the  fertility  of  Egypt  does  not  correspond 
with  its  ancient  reputation,  and  the  population  is 

*  Gesenius  makes  i«d  the  singular.     Isa.  xix.  6.     This  is 
doubtful. 

t  Wilkinson,  Abridged  Edition,  1.  304. 


EGYPT   AND    EGYPTIAN    HISTORY.  39 

small.  In  natural  position  no  country  in  the  world 
is  in  advance  of  Egypt.  At  the  ends  of  the  Red 
and  Mediterranean  Seas,  it  commands  the  com- 
merce of  three  continents.  It  lies  directly  in  the 
path  from  all  Europe  to  Persia,  India,  and  China : 
and  there  is  no  better  outlet  for  the  great  regions 
of  Central  Africa  than  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 
Napoleon  thought  that  Alexander  the  Great  never 
did  a  wiser  or  more  politic  thing  than  to  found  the 
city  of  Alexandria ;  and  Napoleon  showed  his  es- 
timate of  the  political  position  of  Egypt,  when  he 
gave  his  energies  to  conquer  the  country,  desired 
to  hold  it  as  the  key  to  all  the  East,  and  would 
have  laid  there  the  foundation  of  a  great  oriental 
empire.* 

Besides  the  land  itself,  we  have  other  sources 
of  knowledge  respecting  ancient  Egypt.  The  main 
written  sources  of  history  are  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves ;  some  fragments  that  have  been  preserved 
of  Manetho,  an  Egyptian  priest  of  more  than  a 
thousand  years  later  date  than  Moses,  and  a  part 
of  whose  reputed  writings  are  held  to  be  spurious ; 
and  the  Greek  writers  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  and 
Eratosthenes.  Then  we  have  the  existing  relics 
of  Egyptian  civilization  as  it  once  was.  The  ruins 
of  the  country  sufficiently  prove  the  former  power 
of  their  kings  ;  their  pyramids  have  for  ages  been 

*■  Alison  says  that  Leibnitz  urged  the  conquest  of  Egypt  upon 
Louis  XIV.  as  the  true  Key  to  the  great  East. — Hist,  of  Eurojie, 
1st  Scries,  1,  498. 


40  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

reckoned  among  the  wonders  of  the  world ;  and  in 
the  paintings  yet  found  there,  and  in  the  remains 
that  have  been  discovered,  we  have  an  exhibition 
almost  complete  of  ancient  Egyptian  society,  as  to 
manners,  dress,  articles  of  use  and  luxury,  employ- 
ments, and  pleasures.  Evidently  the  painters  of 
ancient  Egypt  possessed  the  art  of  making  indelible 
colours  beyond  the  skill  of  modern  artists.  The 
paintings  on  the  interior  walls  of  their  tombs  are 
as  vivid  now,  after  the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years, 
as  if  the  colours  had  been  freshly  laid  on. 

In  late  years  learned  men  have  found  the  key 
to  the  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  upon  the  Egyptian 
monuments ;  and  the  information  gathered  from 
these  records  of  the  past,  adds  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  ancient  times.  For  ages  these  inscriptions 
had  been  illegible ;  and  the  study  bestowed  upon 
them  seemed  all  vague  conjecture.  But  during 
the  stay  of  the  French  in  Egypt,  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  a  French  officer,  in  digging  the 
foundation  of  a  fort  near  Rosetta,  casually  found 
a  broken  block  of  stone,  having  upon  it  an  inscrip- 
tion, not  entirely  perfect,  but  written  in  three  char- 
acters. One  of  these  was  the  sacred,  another  the 
common  Egyptian  character,  and  the  third  was  the 
Greek.*     As  the  Greek  could  be  read  by  scholars, 

*  This  stone  is  now  in  tlie  British  Museum.  The  Philomathean 
Society  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  having  received  a  fac- 
simile of  the  stone  in  plaster,  appointed  a  committee  of  gentlemen 
to  translate  it.  The  result  was  a  beautiful  quarto,  the  second  edition 
of  which,  1859,  I  have  examined  with  much  interest.     They  have 


EGYPT  AND  EGYPTIAN  HISTORY.       41 

it  enabled  learned  men  to  spell  out  the  probable 
meaning  of  the  others ;  and  finally  to  arrive  at 
some  degree  of  accuracy  in  reading  the  hiero- 
glyphics. Yet  there  is  still  much  uncertainty  as 
to  theif  true  interpretation ;  scarcely  any  two 
scholars  agree  exactly  in  reading  either  names  or 
dates ;  and  the  discrepancies,  in  regard  especially 
to  chronology,  are  wide  and  irreconcilable. 

The  history  of  Egypt,  derived  from  these  various 
sources,  is  divided  into  seven  periods:  1st,  The 
primitive  age  from  Mizraim  to  Menes  ;  2d,  The  age 
of  the  Pharaohs  ;  3d,  The  Persians  ;  4th,  The  Ptol- 
emies ;  5th,  The  Romans ;  6th,  The  Arabs ;  and 
7th,  The  Turks.  The  age  that  concerns  us,  in 
reading  the  history  of  Moses,  is  that  during  which 
the  Pharaohs  ruled  in  the  land.  The  most  fabulous 
dates  have  been  assigned  to  this  portion  of  the  his- 
tory by  various  writers  ;  some  extravagantly  place 
the  earliest  era  of  Egyptian  history  17,000  years 
back ;  and  some  ridiculous  blunders  have  been 
made  by  men  affecting  to  be  wise  in  the  reading 
of  the  monuments.  According  to  Bunsen,  the  era 
of  Menes  was  B.  C.  3643  ;  Lepsius  says  3893 ; 
Dr.  Seyffarth  2783,  and  he  makes  Menes  the  same 
as  Mizraim ;  while  Sir  Gardiner  Wilkinson  assigns 
Menes  a  place  among  mythical  personages,  declines 

given  a  picture  of  the  stone  itself;  a  translation  of  the  Greek,  De- 
motic, and  Hieroglyphic  texts,  elegantly  embellished ;  a  fac-simile 
of  the  Demotic ;  the  text  of  the  Greek  ;  and  various  notes  illustra- 
ting the  whole.  The  volume  is  an  elegant  specimen  of  American 
scholarship  and  typography. 
4  * 


42  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

to  mention  any  date  for  him,  and  alleges  that  no 
certain  era  has  been  established  in  the  early 
Egyptian  chronology.  Difficulties  on  this  subject 
are  no  new  thing.  In  the  days  of  Augustine,  the 
claims  to  high  antiquity  on  the  part  of  various  na- 
tions were  disputed ;  their  writings  were  called  in 
question ;  the  writers  were  said  to  "  speak  what 
they  conjectured  (putant),  not  what  they  knew ;" 
and  Augustine  affirmed  that  the  Egyptian  years 
were  but  four  months  long.* 

The  best  scholars  now  admit  that  the  various 
dynasties  assigned  to  the  age  of  the  Pharaohs  were 
not  consecutive  to  each  other.  The  land  was  di- 
vided during  at  least  a  large  portion  of  the  time ; 
and  several  kings  reigned  contemporaneously  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  Nor  can  we 
judge  of  the  period  by  the  number  of  the  dynasty. 
For  example,  the  eighth  dynasty  is  arranged  after 
the  thirteenth ;  and  the  seventh  perhaps  after  the 
fifteenth  or  eighteenth.  It  was  perhaps  at  the 
commencement  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  that  Egypit 
was  invaded  by  a  nation  of  foreigners,  who  held 
possession  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  possibly,  for  a  part 
of  the  time,  of  the  whole  country,  for  five  or  six 
centuries.  These  are  known  in  history  as  the 
Hykshos  (Hycsos),  or  shepherd  kings  of  Egypt. 
The  shepherds  of  the  fifteenth  dynasty  were  the 
greatest  of  the  foreign  kings ;  and  the  fifth  king 
of  this  dynasty,  named  Assa,  may  have  been  the 

*  De  Civitato  Dei,  Lib.  xii.,  ch.  x. 


EGYPT   AND    EGYPTIAN   HISTORY.  43 

Pharaoh  in  whose  reign  Joseph  became  the  prime 
minister  of  the  kingdom. 

In  the  seventeenth  dynasty,  or,  as  some  say,  in 
the  eighteenth,  or  Diospolitan  dynasty,  the  shep- 
herd kings  were  expelled  from  Egypt  by  a  different 
race,  who  were  bitterly  opposed  to  them,  and  who 
seized  upon  their  possessions  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Delta.  This  change  of  rulers  is  signified  in 
the  words  of  Moses  :  "  Now  there  arose  up  a  new 
king  over  Egypt,  which  knew  not  Joseph."  Exod. 
i.  8.  To  suppose  that  this  king  was  of  another 
dynasty,  will  sufficiently  explain  the  change  of 
policy  towards  the  Israelites.  Yet  indeed  it  does 
not  become  us  to  affirm  positively  touching  matters 
so  much  in  dispute,  or  to  attempt  to  decide  ques- 
tions where  the  best  informed  have  no  decisive 
proofs  to  support  their  views. 


44  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER   III, 

PROriltENTIAIj  I'ltErjLRATIONS. 

"Not  first  the  bi'ight,  and  after  that  the  dark — 
But  first  the  dark,  and  after  that  the  bright : 
First  the  thick  cloud,  and  then  the  rainbow's  arc; 
First  the  dark  grave,  then  resurrection-light." 

BONAR. 

The  dwelling-place  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  is 
in  the  Scriptures  called  the  land  of  Goshen.  Like 
most  other  large  rivers,  the  Nile  branches  off  as  it 
approaches  the  sea,  and  enters  the  Mediterranean 
by  various  mouths.  The  portion  of  land  covered 
by  these  spreading  branches  is  called  the  Delta  of 
the  river ;  this  term  being  derived  from  the  Greek 
letter.  Delta,  J,,  which  such  a  territory  resembles 
in  shape.  The  most  easterly  stream  thus  flowing 
from  the  main  river  is  called  the  Pelusiac  arm  of 
the  Nile  ;  and  upon  this,  it  is  supposed,  the  land 
of  Goshen  was  situated.  This  is  a  fertile  part  of 
the  country :  here  Joseph  settled  his  family,  by  the 
permission  of  the  reigning  Pharaoh :  and  though 
some  may  have  been  scattered  in  servitude  to  more 
distant  parts  of  Egypt,  here  the  great  body  of  the 
Israelitish  people  remained  until  the  period  of  the 
Exodus. 


PROVIDENTIAL    PREPARATIONS.  45 

Various  opinions  have  been  held  respecting  the 
length  of  time  spent  by  the  sons  of  Jacob  in  the 
land  of  Egypt.  In  Exodus  xii.  40,  41,  the  time 
of  their  sojourning  there,  seems  expressly  stated 
to  a  very  day.  "  Now  the  sojourning  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the 
end  of  the  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  even  the 
selfsame  day  it  came  to  pass,  that  all  the  hosts  of 
the  Lord  went  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt."  But 
the  exactness  of  this  statement  depends,  of  course, 
upon  the  date  from  which  we  begin  to  reckon. 
Some  have  thought  four  hundred  and  thirty  years 
much  too  short  a  period  for  so  large  an  increase 
of  the  people.  Yet  the  objection  amounts  to  no- 
thing, since  the  increase  is  expressly  regarded  as 
remarkably  rapid ;  the  narrative  indeed  will  bear 
the  construction  that  it  was  miraculously  so ;  and 
the  objection  is  further  baseless,  if  we  suppose  that 
the  retainers  of  Jacob,  though  not  expressly  men- 
tioned, descended  with  him  to  Egypt.  Others  sup- 
pose that  four  hundred  years  is  quite  too  long  a 
time.*  The  true  statement,  we  suppose,  is  this : 
that  the  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  are  to  be 
reckoned  from  the  time  when  God  made  a  covenant 
with  Abraham,  and  used  two  expressions  to  fix  the 
period  of  the  bondage  in  a  strange  land.  See  Gen. 
XV.  13-16.     His  seed  was  to  be  afflicted  four  hun- 

*   Lepsius   says    ninety  years.     Kurtz's    Hist.  Old    Gov,  ii.  145. 
Bunsen,  1434.     Smith's  Diet.  Bible,  i.  509. 


46  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

dred  years,  and  yet  to  come  out  in  tlie  fourth  gen- 
eration. Four  hundred  years  at  that  age  of  the 
world,  was  too  long  a  period  for  four  generations. 
The  apostle  Paul  reconciles  the  two  expressions 
when  he  teaches  us  explicitly,  that  the  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years  extend  from  the  promise  to 
the  law,  Gal.  iii.  17  ;  that  is,  from  the  covenant  of 
Abraham  to  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai.  The 
actual  stay  in  Egypt  is  exactly  half  of  the  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years.  The  first  half  may  be 
thus  reckoned : 

From  the  promise  to  Isaac's  birth*  .  .  25 
At  Jacob's  birth  Isaac's  age  wasf  .  .  60 
Jacob's  age  on  going  to  Egypt  wasj   .     .  130 


215 


As  Joseph's  age  is  known,  and  we  know  that  he 
lived  seventy-one  years  in  Egypt  after  his  father 
came  down  ;§  and  as-  Moses  was  eighty  years  old 
at  the  Exodus  ;||  we  ascertain  that  a  period  of  six- 
ty-four years  intervened  between  the  death  of  Jo- 
seph and  the  birth  of  Moses. 

There  are  some  matters  of  interesting  inquiry 
respecting  the  stay  of  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  to  which  our  thoughts  may  properly  turn. 
Why  did  they  remain  there  for  so  long  a  time ; 
what  was  their  condition  there ;   and  what  efi'ects 

*  Gen.  xii.  4;  xxi.  5.  f  Gen.  xxv.  26.  J  Gen.  xlvii.  9. 

§  Comp.  Gen.  xli.  46-53  ;  xlv.  11  j  1.  26. 
II  ExocL  vii.  7 ;  Acts  vii.  23-30. 


PROVIDENTIAL    PREPARATIONS.  47 

were  produced  upon  them,  by  the  bondage  of  Egypt 
and  by  intercourse  with  a  people  that  were  highly 
civilized  and  yet  grossly  idolatrous  ?  are  inquiries 
we  should  not  wholly  omit.  We  would  have  sup- 
posed that  Jacob  and  his  sons  would  wish  to  return 
early  to  Canaan.  They  had  originally  gone  to 
Egypt  as  a  refuge  from  the  prevailing  famine ; 
they  doubtless  designed  to  remain  only  during  the 
pressure  of  this  calamity.  Yet  even  Jacob,  with 
all  his  attachments  to  Canaan,  especially  as  the 
promised  land,  remained  seventeen  years  in  this 
strange  country,  and  died  there  :  and  his  children 
yet  sojourned  there  for  four  generations. 

Perhaps  the  warm  attachment  of  the  venerable 
patriarch  for  the  beloved  Joseph,  was  the  first  cord 
that  fastened  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  the  land  of 
Egypt.  Twenty  years  before,  he  had  been  rudely 
separated  from  this  favourite  child ;  he  had  mourned 
him  as  among  the  dead  by  a  cruel  death ;  and  now, 
after  his  long  sorrow,  in  a  time  of  peculiar  distress, 
Joseph  had  been  restored  to  him.  And  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  history,  proving  God's  special 
favour  for  Israel's  deliverance  ;  the  excellency  of 
his  character,  as  the  matured  fruit  of  his  early 
loveliness  ;  the  high  respect  and  influence  he  had 
gained  in  Egypt ;  and  the  quiet,  and  plenty,  and 
comfort  he  provided  for  his  aged  parent  after  so 
many  years  of  toil  and  grief; — all  these  things 
served  to  attach  the  loving  father  to  such  a  son : 
and  we  cannot  wonder  that   thenceforward  Jacob 


48  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

could  not  bear  the  thought  of  another,  and  espe- 
cially of  a  voluntary  separation.  Around  Joseph 
clung  the  father's  warm  affections  ;  and  he  and  his 
sons  were  equally  dependent  upon  this  Ruler  in 
Egypt.  The  time  had  come  for  the  fulfilment  of 
Joseph's  early  dreams.  The  sun,  and  moon,  and 
eleven  stars  pay  their  homage  to  him ;  and  all 
the  sheaves  of  the  house  of  Israel  bow  down  before 
him.     Gen.  xxxvii.  7-9. 

Doubtless  other  reasons  joined  to  detain  the  Is- 
raelites in  Egypt.  The  land  of  Goshen  was  fertile ; 
the  Egyptians  honoured  them  as  the  brethren  of 
their  deliverers  ;  Joseph  was  held  in  high  regard 
in  the  land :  and  he  wished  them  to  share  in  the 
prosperity  that  Providence  had  given  him.  Per- 
haps, also,  there  were  providential  indications  of 
their  duty  to  remain  still  in  Egypt ;  the  way  was 
not  open  for  their  return ;  and  without  charging 
them  with  indifference  to  Canaan,  or  to  the  cove- 
nant with  Abraham,  we  may  quite  justify,  or  nearly 
justify  their  long  stay  in  this  foreign  land.  The 
predicted  time  of  their  stay  as  given  to  Abraham 
may  have  been  considered  authoritative  of  their 
duty,  as  its  approaching  end  gave  them-^opes  of 
deliverance.  But  all  this  while  the  best  of  the 
people  had  no  thought  of  giving  up  Canaan,  or  of 
remaining  in  Egypt.  The  burial  of  Jacob,  and 
even  of  all  the  patriarchs  in  the  promised  land, 
Acts  vii.  15, 16;  and  the  oath  which  Joseph  exacted 
that  they  should  carry  up  his   bones,  all  serve   to 


PROVIDENTIAL  PREPARATIONS.        49 

sliow  their  attachment  to  the  covenant  of  Abra- 
ham ;  and  prove  that  they  kept  constantly  before 
then-  minds  that  Egypt  was  a  foreign  land,  and  that 
they  were  sojourners  there.  Joseph's  oath  would 
keep  them  from  forming  undue  attachments  to 
Egypt ;  and  would  serve  to  remind  them  that  that 
was  not  their  home.  And  thus  we  may  notice, 
that  from  the  very  beginning  of  their  national  his- 
tory, the  Jews  have  possessed  that  trait  of  charac- 
ter, which  is  so  plainly  yet  to  be  seen  in  them, 
after  the  lapse  of  thirty- five  centuries  ;  the  capa- 
bility of  existing  among  other  nations  still  a  dis- 
tinct race,  without  laws,  rulers,  or  lands  of  their 
own. 

But  besides  all  the  other  reasons,  known  and 
unknown,  for  the  long  stay  of  the  people  in  Egypt, 
we  are  expressly  told  that  Divine  Providence  had 
a  purpose  to  serve,  in  regard  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Canaan.  That  land  was  divinely  selected  as  the 
residence  of  the  chosen  people  ;  and  this  perhaps 
with  special  reference  to  its  geographical  position, 
surrounded  by  the  chief  historical  nations  of  the 
world,  and  fitted,  through  idolatrous  ages,  to  keep 
before  men  a  testimony  for  the  true  God.  But 
before  the  call  of  Abraham,  this  territory  was  oc- 
cupied by  the  Canaanitish  tribes  ;  and  their  title 
of  actual  possession,  the  providence  of  God  would 
not  hastily,  nor  without  due  reason,  strike  aside. 
While  then  the  sons  of  Abraham  were  too  few  in 
numbers  to  occupy  this  whole  land  ;  and  while  they 

Vol.  I. — 5 


50  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

were  passing  through  a  state  of  preparatory  disci- 
pline, God  was  exercising  his  forbearance  towards 
the  wicked  tribes  of  Canaan.  But  every  call  to 
repentance,  they  refused  to  hear ;  and  even  the 
terrible  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  wrought 
no  permanent  and  salutary  impressions.  During 
the  stay  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  the  tribes  in  Palestine 
were  declining  in  morals,  apostatizing  in  religion, 
and  ripening  for  destruction.  Great  corruptions 
prevailed  among  them  from  the  earliest  accounts 
we  possess.  Piety  had  not  yet  died  out  in  the  days 
of  Abraham,  as  we  learn  from  the  eminent  example 
of  Melchizedek.  But  the  people  of  the  land  at 
large,  refused  to  be  influenced  by  Abraham  and 
by  Melchizedek,  as  the  Sodomites  rejected  Lot ; 
and  they  went  on  to  fill  up  the  cup  of  their  ini- 
quity. 

We  have  in  this  whole  matter  an  important  ex- 
ample of  that  truth,  so  hard  for  man  fully  to  com- 
prehend, and  yet  so  frequently  brought  to  our  no- 
tice in  the  Scriptures,  that  the  sovereign  purposes 
of  God,  as  the  Providential  Kuler,  do  in  no  wise 
interfere  with  the  exercise  of  man's  freest  agency 
even  in  evil;  and  that  righteousness  governs  all  God's 
dealings  with  the  sons  of  men.  Here  were  tribes 
of  wicked  men,  deserving  God's  judgments,  and 
feeling  enough  of  them  to  awaken  repentance,  if 
they  were  disposed  to  repent.  Yet  they  were  not 
wholly  wicked.  When  Abraham  plead  with  God 
to  save  Sodom,  the  foundation  of  his  plea  was  the 


PKOVIDENTIAL    PREPARATIONS.  51 

hope  that  a  few  righteous  men  remained  among 
them ;  and  the  assurance  that  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  would  do  right.  Gen.  xviii.  25.  God  had 
forbearance  with  the  Canaanites  so  long  as  a  few 
remained  among  them  maintaining  his  fear ;  it  was 
because  they  did  not  like  to  retain  him  in  their 
knowledge  that  he  gave  them  up  to  walk  in  their 
own  ways,  Rom.  i.  28 ;  and  in  despite  of  all  his 
long-suffering,  their  iniquity  increased.  Even  to 
give  his  suffering  people  their  promised  rest,  he 
would  not  prematurely  drive  out  the  Canaanites, 
until  by  their  iniquity  his  wrath  was  ripened.  In 
the  increasing  and  ripening  abominations  of  the 
tribes  of  Canaan,  we  have,  on  the  one  hand,  one 
of  the  reasons  for  the  long  sojourn  of  the  sons  of 
Jacob  in  a  strange  and  oppressive  land  ;  and  on 
the  other,  we  have  the  providential  justification  of 
the  exterminating  warfare  afterwards  waged  by 
Joshua  :  Gen.  xv.  16. 

Forbearance  with  human  sinfulness,  yet  the 
just  judgments  of  God  against  incorrigible  wick- 
edness, in  nations  or  in  individuals,  may  be 
read  in  all  the  past  pages  of  history.  Read  the 
records  of  the  nations,  and  amid  all  the  varying 
scenes  and  circumstances  and  agencies  of  Provi- 
dence, the  same  principles  govern  the  Divine  ad- 
ministration. God's  holy  law  binds  men  every- 
where and  always.  Neither  nations  nor  men  can 
sin  with  impunity.  And  we  should  not  misunder- 
stand the  long  delays  of  Divine  judgments.     It  is 


52  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

not  that  God  forgets ;  much  less  that  he  approves. 
The  true  secret  is  that  he  forbears.  He  is  slack 
neither  concerning  his  laws,  nor  concerning  his 
promises,  but  is  long-suffering  towards  men ;  not 
willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance,  2  Pet.  iii.  9.  And  we,  who 
live  in  a  land  and  age  pre-eminently  instructed 
both  in  the  law  of  God  and  in  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
should  wisely  know  our  times  and  fear  to  abuse 
the  Divine  forbearance  by  continuance  in  evil. 


THE    BONDAGE    OF   EGYPT.  53 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TJELJE  BONDAGE  OF  EGYPT, 

"  When  hang  the  heavy  clouds  above 
And  Israel  Egypt's  burdens  bears. 
The  God  of  Abraham  looks  in  love, 

And  hears  his  people's  anguished  prayers; 
The  heavier  cross  calls  forth  their  cry, 
And  when  they  plead  His  aid  is  nigh." 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  at  what  pe- 
riod a  change  took  place  in  the  circumstances  of 
the  Israelites.  The  seventy  remaining  years  of 
Joseph's  life,  after  his  brethren  came  to  Egypt, 
were  doubtless  spent  in  peace  and  prosperity ;  and 
as  yet  perhaps,  no  dark  clouds  threatened  the  com- 
ing storm.  And  if  we  consider  together  these  two 
things — their  condition  in  Egypt,  and  the  influence 
produced  upon  them  by  their  stay  there — it  would 
be  no  strange  thing  in  human  experience,  even  in 
pious  experience,  if  these  prosperous  years  were 
the  most  dangerous  years  of  their  sojourn.  In  the 
favour  of  the  Egyptians,  in  the  fertility  of  Goshen, 
in  the  sensual  pleasures  of  an  idolatrous  religion, 
lay  concealed  the  seductions  which  might  lull  them 
into  forgetfulness  of  Canaan,  of  the  covenant  of 
5  * 


54  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

Abraham,  and  of  the  pure  worship  of  the  living 
God.  Perhaps  to  save  them  from  deeper  declin- 
ings,  the  dark  period  of  Israelitish  history  in  the 
Bondage  was  in  the  mercy  of  their  covenant  God. 
This  is  the  happiness  of  God's  people,  that  trouble 
never  comes  by  chance  ;  and  that  its  severest  power 
but  results  in  the  more  precious  blessings. 

**  The  clouds  we  so  much  dread 
Are  big  with  mercy." 

The  troubles  of  the  people  began  upon  the  acces- 
sion of  a  new  king,  who  either  knew  not  Joseph's 
services,  or  did  not  regard  them  as  demanding  his 
gratitude.  The  language,  as  before  suggested,  re- 
fers, in  all  probability,  to  a  new  dynasty.  Some 
suppose  that  this  was  not  a  dynasty  of  the  shep- 
herd kings  ;  and  in  this  they  find  a  plausible  reason 
for  their  readiness  to  oppress  a  race  of  shepherds, 
like  the  sons  of  Jacob.  Yet  even  a  new  dynasty 
of  the  same  race,  knowing  that  the  Israelites  had 
been  the  friends  and  supporters  of  their  predeces- 
sors, might  for  this  reason  treat  them  with  rigour. 
And  evidently  it  was  no  design  of  the  new  king  to 
drive  the  Israelites  from  Egypt.  This  he  would 
have  done,  had  he  regarded  them  as  invaders,  whose 
presence  was  dangerous  to  the  permanence  of  his 
throne.  One  avowed  object  of  the  oppression  was 
to  keep  them  from  "getting  up  out  of  the  land." 
Ex.  i.  10.  The  language  implies  that  the  expecta- 
tion of  departure  on  the  part  of  this  people  was 
well  known,  and  plainly  kept  both  before  their 


THE   BONDAGE    OF    EGYPT.  55 

own  minds  and  before  the  minds  of  the  Egyptians. 
The  king  expresses  no  fear  that  they  will  fight  and 
rule  Egypt ;  but  that  they  may  join  others  merely 
to  facilitate  their  own  escape.  Perhaps  this  is 
proof  of  the  degradation  of  Israel,  as  compared  with 
the  high  civilization  of  Egypt,  that  not  dominion, 
but  escape,  is  feared ;  and  that  slavery,  and  not 
expulsion,  is  the  remedy  sought. 

These  fears  were  specially  aroused  by  the  great 
increase  of  the  people.  Josephus,  however,  de- 
clares that  the  king  was  led  to  adopt  severe  meas- 
ures, and  especially  to  issue  the  decree  that  the 
male  children  should  be  destroyed,  by  the  predic- 
tion of  one  of  their  wise  men  that  a  child  should 
be  born  who  would  raise  the  Israelites,  and  cast 
down  the  Egyptians.  But  this,  together  with  many 
other  Jewish  and  Mohammedan  fables  respecting 
Moses  and  his  wonderful  character,  we  may  regard 
as  the  oiFspring  of  man's  desire  to  render  more 
marvellous  the  great  doings  of  God.  Let  it  suffice 
us  to  know  that  measures  of  oppression  continued, 
not  all  the  time  with  equal  severity,  for  perhaps 
an  entire  century ;  and  let  us  notice  the  engage- 
ments of  the  people  in  this  bondage,  and  the  influ- 
ence produced  upon  them  by  it. 

Josephus  says,  concerning  the  employments  of 
the  Israelites,  that  the  Egyptians  set  them  to  cut 
channels  for  the  river ;  to  build  levees  for  the 
banks,  walls  for  their  cities,  and  the  pyramids ;  to 
learn  all  sorts  of  mechanical  arts ;  and  to  do  vari- 


56  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

ous  kinds  of  hard  labour.*  It  is  likely  that  they 
were  engaged  in  all  these  things.  The  chief  objec- 
tion to  the  statement  that  they  built  the  pyramids 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  these  structures  are  almost 
all  stone,  though  a  few  are  found  of  brick.  Possi- 
bly the  time  of  building  the  pyramids  may  not 
agree  with  the  period  of  the  Bondage  ;  but  the 
terms  of  the  sacred  narrative  do  not  forbid  us  to 
believe  that  they  may  have  wrought  both  in  stone 
and  brick.  This  we  know,  that  labours  in  the  field 
and  the  making  of  brick  formed  a  part  of  their 
toils.  It  is  difficult  alike  to  determine  what  cities 
are  designated  by  the  names  Pithom  and  Raamses, 
and  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  treasure 
cities  "  as  applied  to  them. 

The  writings  of  travellers  and  of  orientalists, 
especially  since  so  many  explorations  have  been 
made  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  afford  us  many  in- 
teresting illustrations  of  the  labours  of  the  people 
during  this  period.  It  is  a  matter  of  wonder  to 
many  readers  of  the  Bible  why  the  Israelites  needed 
straw  to  aid  them  in  making  brick.  The  solution 
is  very  simple.  In  an  atmosphere  of  wonderful 
salubrity ;  in  a  land  where  rain  very  seldom  falls, 
and  where  fuel  is  very  scarce,  bricks  dried  or  baked 
in  a  kiln  are  but  little   known. f     Eastern  bricks 

*"  Josephus  Antiq.  ii.  9,  §  1. 

f  "  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Egyptians  in  early  times  used 
any  but  crude  brick,  a  burnt  brick  being  as  sure  a  record  of  the 
Roman  dominion  as  an  imperial  coin."  Reginald  Stuart  Poole,  in 
Smith's  Diet.  Bible,  ii.  542. 


THE    BONDAGE    OF    EGYPT.  57 

are  sun-dried.  Even  in  Texas  and  Central  America 
adobes,  or  unburnt  brick,  are  used  in  building 
houses ;  thej  cost  nothing  but  a  little  labour,  and 
yet  are  of  extraordinary  durability.*  Straw  was 
mixed  with  the  Egyptian  bricks  to  make  them  stick 
better  together ;  but  no  straw  was  needed  except 
for  those  formed  from  the  mud  or  alluvial  deposits 
of  the  Nile.  Bricks  made  three  thousand  years 
ago,t  with  and  without  straw,  are  now  found  with 
the  names  of  the  monarchs,  in  whose  reigns  they 
were  made,  stamped  upon  them. 

Mr.  Wilkinson  thinks  that  it  is  unreasonable  to 
look  for  any  sculptures  representing  the  Hebrews 
among  the  remains  of  Egyptian  antiquity,  since  no 
remains  are  found  in  that  part  of  Egypt  where 
they  lived ;  but  other  foreign  captives  are  found 
on  the  monuments  "occupied  in  the  same  manner, 
overlooked  by  similar  'taskmasters,'  and  perform- 
ing the  very  same  labours,  as  the  Israelites  de- 
scribed in  the  Bible. ";(  Others,  however,  think 
that  some  of  the  Israelites  may  have  been  sent  to 
labour  in  Upper  Egypt.  In  Exod.  v.  12,  we  read, 
"  So  the  people  were  scattered  abroad  throughout 
all  the  land  of  Egypt."  Rosellini,  an  Italian  an- 
tiqttary,  sent  out  by  the  Tuscan  Government  with 
the  French  commission  under  Champollion,  took 
fifteen  hundred  drawings  from  the  Egyptian  monu- 
ments, and  published   a   splendid  work  upon  the 

*  New  Am.  Cyc.  Art.  Adobe  Houses.  f  Wilkinson,  ii.  194. 

X  Wilkinson,  ii.  195. 


58  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

subject.  He  found,  painted  upon  the  walls  of  a 
tomb  at  Thebes,  a  representation  which  has  excited 
great  interest  among  scholars,  and  which  he  re- 
gards as  a  "  picture  representing  the  Hebrews  as 
they  were  engaged  in  making  brick."  In  this  pic- 
ture some  labourers  are  carrying  clay  and  bricks, 
some  mixing,  others  moulding,  the  clay ;  the  task- 
masters are  easily  distinguished.  The  complexion 
and  physiognomy  determine  the  labourers  to  be 
Hebrews,  and  the  taskmasters  to  be  Egyptians.* 
The  only  objection  to  the.  application  of  this  picture 
to  the  Hebrews  is,  that  it  was  found  at  Thebes  ; 
and  we  have  no  certain  proof  that  they  were  ever 
there.  But  it  may,  at  all  events,  illustrate  the  kind 
of  labour  to  which  the  Egyptians  put  their  bonds- 
men. As  it  was  the  proud  boast  of  their  kings 
that  no  Egyptian  had  put  forth  his  hand  to  erect 
their  monuments, f  we  may  easily  believe  that  they 
would  make  the  Israelites  serve  them  with  rigour. 

But  these  labours  of  the  sons  of  Jacob  were  not 
useless  to  them.  They  were  indeed  down-trodden 
and  degraded,  but  they  must  have  gained  various 
elements  of  Egyptian  civilization.  They  went 
down  to  Egypt  merely  a  race  of  shepherds.  When 
they  came  out,  they  still  possessed  cattle ;  espe- 
cially some  of  the  tribes.  Num.  xxxii.  1-4 ;  but  in 
an  agricultural  country  like  Egypt,  the  main  body 


*  Hengstenberg's  Egypt  and  the  Books  of  Moses,  81. 

t  Diodorus  Siculus  in  Wiseman's  Lectures,  268,  Hengstenberg, 


80. 


THE    BONDAGE    OF    EGYPT.  59 

of  the  people  became  cultivators  of  the  soil,  as  they 
were  to  remain  in  Palestine.  So  we  find  them 
complaining  in  the  desert  for  want  of  the  garden 
vegetables  they  had  enjoyed  in  Egypt,  Num.  xi.  5. 
And  doubtless  they  learned  useful  trades  and  arts : 
not  only  building,  but  weaving  linen,  tapestry,  and 
fine  clothes ;  working  in  precious  metals  and  stones ; 
and  various  other  arts :  as  we  learn  from  the  erec- 
tion of  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness.  So  the 
promise  made  to  Abraham  that  they  should  come 
out  "with  great  substance "  was  "fulfilled  in  a 
much  higher  sense  than  by  their  coming  out  of 
Egypt  with  vessels  of  gold  and  silver."*  Gen. 
XV.  14 ;  Ex.  xii.  35,  36. 

But  what  was  the  moral  and  religious  influence 
of  the  Bondage  upon  the  sons  of  Abraham  ?  is  a 
much  more  important  inquiry.  If  we  may  judge 
by  that  generation  which  Moses  led  into  the  desert, 
we  cannot  give  a  favourable  reply.  They  became 
entangled  in  Egyptian  pollutions,  and  enamoured 
of  Egyptian  idolatry ;  so  that  even  the  wonders  of 
the  Exodus  and  of  Sinai  could  not  win  them  back 
to  the  God  who  did  so  much  for  them,  or  save  them 
from  falling  beneath  his  wrath  on  their  way  to  Ca- 
naan. It  may  be  that  the  Israelites  were  not 
allowed  the  full  exercise  of  their  religion  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  that  the  decline  of  piety  among 
them  was  the  consequence  of  this.  "  Herodotus 
expressly  tells  us  that  the  Egyptians  esteemed  it  a 

*  Kurtz's  Hist.  Old  Gov.,  ii.  168. 


60  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

profanation  to  sacrifice  any  kind  of  cattle  except 
swine,  bulls,  clean  calves,  and  geese ;  and  in  an- 
other place  that  heifers,  rams,  and  goats  were  held 
sacred  either  in  one  province  or  in  another."*  This 
seems  to  correspond  with  what  Moses  declared  to 
Pharaoh,  that  he  could  not  offer  sacrifices  in  the 
land:  "  Lo,  shall  we  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the 
Egyptians  before  their  eyes,  and  will  they  not  stone 
us?"  Exodus  viii.  26. 

It  is  very  evident  from  the  history  subsequently, 
that  many  of  the  people  of  Israel  became  entan- 
gled in  the  idolatries  of  Egypt.  Scarcely  anything 
is  more  remarkable  than  the  fact,  that  the  Jews  so 
easily  degenerated  into  idolaters  at  any  time  pre- 
vious to  the  Babylonish  captivity ;  and  yet  that 
they  have  never  been  betrayed  into  idolatry  by  all 
their  trials  and  persecutions  since  that  time.  The 
making  of  the  golden  calf  at  Sinai  seems  evidently 
to  have  been  the  fruit  of  the  lessons  learned  in 
Egypt.  The  god  Apis  bore  the  form  of  an  ox  or 
bull  among  the  Egyptians  ;  and  the  golden  calf 
was  doubtless  an  imitation  of  this.  Perhaps  many 
other  of  the  defilements  and  temptations  of  the 
desert  had  a  similar  origin.  It  seems  lamentable 
to  reflect  that,  with  very  few  honourable  exceptions, 
the  entire  body  of  the  people,  who  had  reached 
adult  years  before  leaving  Egypt,  were  so  corrupted 
by  the  Egyptian  manners,  that  they  were  unfit  to 
enter  Canaan  :  and  that  a  new  generation,  of  those 

*  Warburton's  Div.  Legation  of  Moses,  ii.  156. 


THE    BONDAGE    OF    EGYPT.  61 

who  were  young  enough  to  receive  salutary  and 
lasting  impressions  from  the  great  wonders  which 
God  wrought  in  Egypt,  and  at  the  Red  Sea,  and  in 
the  desert,  must  be  trained  up  for  the  service  of 
God  before  the  promises  made  to  Abraham  could 
receive  their  fulfilment. 

Yet  we  need  not  suppose  that  the  corruption  was 
total.  Even  some  of  those  who  perished  in  the 
journey  may  have  possessed  a  measure  of  piety. 
And  there  were  others  of  more  consistent  and 
firmer  faith.  Perhaps  that  word  is  true  of  every 
time  of  distress  among  God's  people,  as  of  the  days 
of  Elijah  and.  Paul,  that  a  remnant  of  God's  peo- 
ple are  faithful  to  him.  Rom.  xi.  5.  Afflictions 
not  only  try  but  winnow  the  church.  There  are 
fewer  professors  of  piety  in  times  of  distress :  but 
they  who  are  faithful,  are  as  the  finest  of  the  wheat. 
We  may  doubtless  reckon  among  the  faithful  few, 
the  parents  of  Moses.  They  looked  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  and  kept 
firm  their  confidence  in  God  in  despite  of  the  king's 
commandment.  The  remembrance  of  Joseph,  and 
the  solemn  oath  which  bound  each  succeeding  gen- 
eration to  carry  him  up  with  them  in  their  antici- 
pated Exodus,  may  have  exerted  a  salutary  influ- 
ence during  those  years  of  darkness. 

The  Jews  have  a  proverb,  "When  the  tale  of 
bricks  is  doubled,  then  comes  Moses."  The  mean- 
ing of  it  is  similar  to  the  words  we  often  use, 
*' Man's    extremity  is    God's    opportunity."      We 

Vol.  1.— 6 


62  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

wonder  that  God's  chosen  people  are  called  to  bear 
so  much.  How  long  he  tries  our  faith !  How  far, 
sometimes,  do  his  people  stray !  Yet  all  is  beneath 
his  eye.  He  is  not  unmindful.  He  hears  their 
groaning:  he  sees  their  affliction:  his  appear- 
ance to  save  is  certain:  and  shall  be  "in  the  self- 
same day"  of  a  wisely  appointed  purpose.  Ex. 
xii.  41.  And  this  much  we  know,  that  the  heavy 
hand  of  Egypt  called  forth  the  prayers  of  Israel 
towards  their  God:  and  the  seed  of  Jacob  never 
sought  his  face  in  vain.  Exodus  ii.  23.  Isa. 
xlv.   19. 


PARENTAL   FAITH.  63 


CHAPTER  V. 

•PAJtENTAJj  FAITS. 

"All  other  passions  change 
With  changing  circumstances  :  rise  or  fall 
Dependent  on  their  object:  claim  returns; 
Live  on  reciprocation ;  and  expire 
Unfed  by  hope.     A  mother's  fondness  reigns 
Without  a  rival,  and  without  an  end."  H.  More. 

If  we  could  look  in  upon  the  humble  dwellings 
of  the  sons  of  Israel  when  the  cruel  edict  of  Pha- 
raoh was  made  known,  we  might  not  only  see  the 
signs  of  distress,  but  the  tokens  of  renewed  devo- 
tion in  the  presence  of  their  covenant  God.  Jeho- 
vah saw  their  affliction,  heard  their  cry,  and  knew 
their  sorrows.  Ex.  iii.  7.  Indeed  it  may  appear 
that  this  very  decree,  which  was  not  long  rigidly 
enforced,  was  permitted  in  his  holy  providence,  that 
the  future  deliverer  of  Israel  might  be  thrown  for 
his  education  and  training  upon  their  care,  who 
could  best  fit  him  for  coming  duties.  Moses  was 
not  the  first-born  son  of  his  parents.  Aaron  was 
three  years  his  senior ;  and  as  no  mention  is  made 
of  his  peril,  it  is  likely  that  the  short-lived  law  was 
proclaimed  just  before  the  birth  of  Moses.     The 


G4  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

decree  filled  the  hearts  of  these  pious  parents  with 
anguish.  An  event  usually  anticipated  with  joy  is 
expected  now  with  sorrow:  yet  that  was  a  blessed 
strength  of  piety  which  led  this  humble  pair  to 
brave  the  penalty  of  disobedience. 

"They  saw  that  Moses  was  a  proper  child,"  says 
the  apostle.  Reference  may  here  be  made  to  more 
than  ordinary  personal  beauty  in  Moses,  which  the 
Jews  do  not  fail  to  exalt,  which  even  the  Scriptures 
mention,  and  which  Josephus  greatly  praises.  Acts 
vii.  20.  Or  the  expression  may  refer  to  some  im- 
pression upon  the  minds  of  his  parents  that  by  him 
God  would  bring  Israel's  promised  deliverance. 
That  "they  were  not  afraid  of  the  king's  command- 
ment:" Heb.  xi.  23,  is  a  declaration  not  designed 
to  deny  that  they  had  those  natural  fears  and  mis- 
givings which  frequently  co-exist  with  the  firmest 
confidence;  and  which  indeed  exhibit,  not  the  weak- 
ness, but  the  strength  of  faith.  The  strength  of 
faith  is  magnified  by  its  steadfast  exercise  in  spite 
of  the  most  formidable  difficulties:  difficulties  not 
despised,  but  fully  realized,  and  sensibly  felt;  and 
yet  firmly  resisted,  and  finally  overcome. 

The  parents  of  Moses  knew  the  decree  of  Pha- 
raoh ;  and  they  could  not  be  indifierent  to  its  cruel 
terms.  They  often  thought  of  the  expecting  croc- 
odile on  the  reedy  border  of  the  Nile;  they  often 
trembled  lest  the  ear  of  a  passing  Egyptian  should 
catch  the  sound  of  his  infantile  cries,  and  search 
their  scanty  stuff  to  find   the   darling  boy;    they 


PARENTAL    FAITH.  65 

guarded  carefully  by  day,  they  watched  anxiously 
through  the  darkness,  for  the  safety  of  their  hidden 
charge.  It  is  in  human  nature  that  a  child  born 
at  such  a  season,  and  preserved  at  such  hazards, 
should  be  so  much  the  more  a  darling,  because  in 
his  innocent  helplessness  he  made  such  demands 
upon  the  best  affections  of  the  household. 

Let  the  Christian  mother,  who  often  surrounds 
her  peaceful,  slumbering  infant  with  a  thousand  im- 
aginary troubles,  estimate,  if  possible,  the  perplex- 
ing anxieties  of  the  mother  of  Moses,  duiring  these 
three  months  of  watchfulness.  In  a  country  where 
rain  scarcely  ever  falls,  and  where  people  sleep  in 
the  open  air  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  do 
the  most,  even  of  their  household  work,  out  of  doors, 
four  walls  with  a  flat  roof  of  palm  branches,  over- 
laid with  mats  and  plastered  with  mud,  make  up  a 
poor  man's  house.*  Had  the  parents  of  Moses 
dwelt  in  a  palace,  they  might  have  concealed  their 
child  longer;  but  in  the  hut  of  a  Hebrew  bondman, 
exposed  to  intrusion  from  any  passing  Egyptian,  it 
was  faith  indeed  that  could  venture  for  three  months 
to  withstand  the  order  of  Pharaoh.  And  they  felt 
that  every  day  the  danger  of  discovery  was  greater; 
that  soon  the  unconscious  child  would  begin  to  no- 
tice the  world  around  him;  that  soon  he  must  be 
amused  with  the  trinkets  of  childhood;  that  soon 
he  must  be  allowed  first  to  creep,  and  then  with 
tottering   steps   to   go  forth   beyond    the   narrow 

*  Sir  G.  Wilkinson.  Ch.  1. 
6* 


66  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

threshhold;  and  thus  that  every  week  was  one  of 
increasing  jeopardy  for  his  life  and  for  the  safety 
of  the  family.  It  became  obvious  to  the  parents 
that  they  must  adopt  some  new  means  for  his  pres- 
ervation ;  that  if  faith  prompted  his  early  hiding  in 
their  humble  abode,  it  could  be  only  presumption 
that  in  later  months  would  venture  to  retain  him 
there;  and  that  between  the  presumptuous  deter- 
mination to  retain  their  boy  and  the  cowardly  des- 
peration that  would  yield  him  up,  there  was  due 
room  for  the  exercise  of  a  wise  and  intelligent  and 
holy  faith  in  God. 

But  faith  in  God  is  never  an  idle  or  heartless 
principle;  and  in  the  exercise  of  it,  the  parents  of 
Moses  must  both  work  and  venture.  It  was,  we 
naturally  judge,  with  deep  solicitude;  and  we  can 
scarcely  doubt,  with  earnest  prayer;  and,  we  are 
certain  upon  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures,  in 
the  exercise  of  a  well-founded  faith,  that  their 
changing  plan  was  matured.  It  exactly  met  the 
exigency;  and  yet  to  the  eye  of  sense  it  seemed 
desperately  embraced.  Let  us  not  think  that  their 
misgivings  of  evil  and  apprehensions  of  danger, 
disprove  their  steadfast  purpose,  or  the.firmness  of 
their  faith  in  God.  The  little  needle  that  directs 
the  mariner  upon  his  way  is  never  at  rest :  it  is  es- 
pecially agitated  when  the  ship  is  tossed  by  a  tem- 
pest ;  yet  with  all  its  restlessness  there  is  one  point 
past  which  it  vibrates,  and  towards  which  its  ten- 
dencies  constantly   are;    and    that  point  can    as 


PARENTAL    FAITH.  67 

easily  be  discerned  by  a  practised  eye,  as  if  the 
needle  pointed  only  there.  The  faith  of  a  hum-!  vi 
soul  will  usually  have  its  fears  and  hopes,  its  sor- 
rows and  joys,  its  elevations  and  depressions;  but 
amidst  them  all,  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the 
true  bent  of  the  pious  mind. 

The  mother  of  Moses  sought  materials  for  her 
dreaded  but  believing  task.  Upon  the  borders  of 
the  Nile  there  grows  a  kind  of  rush,  called  in  the 
Scriptures  the  paper  reed,  Isa.  xix.  7;  because  long 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  Of  this  same 
reed,  sail  cloth,  cordage,  and  even  the  small  boats 
upon  the  Nile  are  still  made ;  and  they  are  yet  pre- 
vented from  leaking  by  the  daubings  of  slime  and 
pitch.  *  This  plant  was  sometimes  called  "biblos," 
from  which  comes  our  word  Bible;  and  "papyrus," 
from  which  is  our  word  paper.  Plutarch  gives  it 
as  the  "current  Egyptian  belief  that  that  plant  was 
a  protection  from  crocodiles. "f 

Such  materials  ready  to  her  hand,  furnished  the 
believing  woman  with  the  means  to  construct  a  lit- 
tle ark,  that  her  boy  might  be  hidden  in  the  margin 
of  the  river.  Surely  never  before  nor  since  has 
such  a  vessel  carried  such  a  freight.  Apart  from 
the  exercise  of  faith  in  God,  the  adventure  is  des- 
perate ;  but  faith  can  not  only  excuse,  but  vindicate 

*Land  and  Book,  1,  336.  Wilkinson  ii.  95,  seq.  Smith's  Diet. 
Bible,  1,  498,  says  that  now  the  papyrus  is  almost  or  quite  unknown 
in  Egypt :  Lowth  and  Alexander  do  not  refer  Isa.  xix.  7  to  it. 

f  Stanley's  Jewish  Church. 


68  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

this  apparent  recklessness.  There  is  just  ground 
here  for  faith.  For  not  only  might  we  say,  better 
the  monsters  of  the  Nile  than  the  cruel  monarch 
of  Egypt;  but  we  are  expressly  assured  that  the 
ark  was  resorted  to  only  "when  she  could  no  longer 
hide"  the  child.  Ex.  ii.  3.  And  if  the  frail  ves- 
sel should  perish,  it  would  be  no  worse  than  the 
discovery  of  the  babe  in  his  mother's  arms.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  in  the  sacred  Scriptures 
faith  is  frequently  represented  as  venturing  the 
soul  upon  the  providence,  and,  in  the  most  impor- 
tant cases,  upon  the  grace  of  God,  in  circumstan- 
ces that  seem  desperate  whichever  way  else  we 
turn.  The  Israelites  at  the  Red  Sea  seemed  hemmed 
in  on  every  side ;  .Queen  Esther  pondered  the  per- 
ils of  venturing,  or  of  fearing  to  approach  the 
king;  death  threatened  the  Samaritan  lepers 
whether  they  sat  still,  or  went  forth  to  the  hostile 
camp;  and  the  trembling  sinner,  afraid  that  Christ 
will  reject  his  humble  pleading,  will  but  realize  his 
worst  fears  if  he  allows  them  to  keep  him  from  the 
footstool  of  Divine  mercy. 

The  precious  burden  entrusted  to  that  slender 
vessel  had  a  guardianship  the  most  powerful.  The 
plan  of  that  exposure  amidst  the  bulrushes  was 
conceived  by  parental  faith,  after  united  wrest- 
lings with  God,  comparable,  perhaps,  to  the  striv- 
ings of  their  father  Jacob  at  Penuel.  Day  after 
day  as  the  believing  father  bent  over  his  rigorous 
task  in  the  fields  of  Egypt,  there  was  a  heavier 


PARENTAL    FAITH.  69 

burden  on  his  heart ;  and  his  frequent  falling  tears 
were  only  outnumbered  by  his  warmer  ascending 
prayers  for  the  lovely  babe.  Hour  after  hour  the 
believing  mother  snatched  the  precious  but  secret 
moments  to  weave  the  rushes  for  her  infant's  cra- 
dle. But  it  could  not  be  a  speedy  task.  Many  a 
time,  we  may  imagine,  did  her  hand  stay,  ag  she 
thought  that  her  care  for  her  fondling  must  give 
place  to  the  rocking  of  the  wave ;  her  song  to  th& 
babble  of  the  billow;  her  warm  embrace  to  the 
chill  bosom  of  the  river;  perhaps  her  fond  kiss  to 
the  fierce  jaw  of  the  monster.  Many  a  time  the 
work  was  laid  aside,  and  the  babe  snatched  convul- 
sively to  that  heart  from  which,  it  seemed  to  her, 
no  king  could  be  cruel  enough  to  tear  it.  But 
faith  took  up  again  the  sorrowful  but  needful  work ; 
and  with  an  earnest  prayer  over  every  bending  of 
the  reeds,  she  completed  her  little  boat  for  its  peri- 
lous place.  Truly  we  should  well  endure  the  tri- 
als of  our  times,  when  we  see  the  conflict  of  these 
believing  hearts.  Faith  concealed  the  babe  ;  faith 
conceived  the  plan  for  his  deliverance ;  faith  wove 
the  network  of  the  boat,  and  the  prayers  that  in- 
terlaced its  sides  were  thicker  than  the  reeds  ;  faith 
chose  the  place  and  the  hour  of  depositing  its  charge 
by  the  river;  and  neglectful  of  nothing  that  believ- 
ing hearts  or  earnest  hands  could  do,  faith  selected 
a  sentinel,  whose  warm  affection  and  ready  intelli- 
gence could  be  fully  trusted;  yet  whose  age  and 
innocence  would  least  excite  prejudice  or  suspicion. 


70  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Thus  far  faith  has  done  well.  The  ark  is  finished ; 
the  slumbering  babe  is  laid  within  it;  the  strong 
arm  of  the  Hebrew  father,  forcing  himself  to  com- 
posure for  others'  sake,  has  laid  him  by  the  brink 
of  the  water;  the  weeping  mother  has  taken  a 
parting  kiss,  and  torn  herself  away;  and  the  little 
sister  is  the  sole  human  watcher  of  the  sleeping 
boy.  Faith  has  done  all  its  work,  save  one,  the 
last  thing;  the  great  connecting  bond  which  se- 
cures the  blessing  upon  all  the  rest.  Faith  has  se- 
cured the  victory;  for  it  has  left  the  future  Deliv- 
erer of  Israel  to  the  guardianship  of  God. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  MOSES.         71 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  MOSES. 

"  Oh  worse  exchange  for  death  if  he  should  learn 
In  yon  proud  palace  to  disown  His  hand 
Who  thus  has  saved  him  !  Should  he  e'er  embrace, 
As  sure  he  will,  if  bred  in  Pharaoh's  court, 
The  gross  idolatries  which  Egypt  owns ; 
Then  shall  I  wish  he  had  not  been  preserved 
To  shame  his  fathers,  and  deny  his  faith."  H.  More. 

It  is  wonderfully  true  in  the  operations  of  God's 
providence  that  his  purposes  are  accomplished  in 
darkness.  The  most  important  events,  for  the  in- 
dividual believer  and  for  God's  suffering  church, 
are  often  brought  about  by  means  that  seem  to  pre- 
pare the  most  opposite  and  adverse  results.  The 
child  Moses,  was  placed  in  the  ark  of  bulrushes  for 
fear  of  Pharaoh;  and  if  human  wit  had  been  con- 
sulted, the  daughter  of  the  king  would  not  have 
been  his  discoverer,  nor  the  palace  of  the  monarch 
his  refuge. 

Yet  for  that  child  there  are  designs  in  Providence 
that  can  be  secured  only  when  his  foster  parent 
stands  thus  related  to  Egypt's  throne.  There  must 
be  protection  afforded  to  the  foundling  that  no 
authority  in  Egypt  can  invade.  He  must  be  edu- 
cated with  advantages  for  the  cultivation  of  his  7nind, 


72  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

over  which  no  man  in  that  age  could  claim  any  supe- 
riority ;  he  must  have  intercourse  with  polished  soci- 
ety^ and  familiarity  with  political  events  and  political 
duties,  such  as  could  be  acquired  only  when  he 
was  an  honoured  inmate  of  the  most  refined  and 
intelligent  court  upon  earth.  These  demands  of 
Providence  for  the  training  of  the  future  lawgiver 
of  the  Jews,  could  best  be  met  by  leading  the  daugh- 
ter  of  Pharaoh  to  the  margin  of  the  Nile,  and  by 
touching  her  tender  feelings  by  the  timely  weeping 
of  the  Hebrew  babe. 

But  there  is  another  providential  design  for  Mo- 
ses, superior  to  all  the  rest,  in  his  entire  education  ; 
and  if  this  be  lost  sight  of,  the  most  thorough 
training  in  other  respects  is  far  worse  than  use- 
less. What  are  the  advantages  of  rank  and  wealth; 
what  the  most  thorough  cultivation  of  the  intellect ; 
what  the  utmost  refinement  of  manners,  if  the 
heart  is  neglected  ?  The  education  that  does  not 
include  the  trainings,  the  attractions  and  the  re- 
straints of  virtue,  may  but  strengthen  the  unruly 
mind  for  larger  achievements  of  malice  and  wick- 
edness. What  a  calamity  it  had  been,  if  Moses, 
the  child  of  Hebrew  piety,  had  been  rescued  by  the 
daughter  of  that  idolatrous  king,  to  be  tutored  in 
the  falsehoods  and  impurity  of  the  Egyptian  theol- 
ogy;  if  his  great  intellect  had  been  occupied  simply 
with  Egyptian  learning ;  if  his  executive  and  mili- 
tary abilities  had  been  enlisted  to  strengthen  the 
despotism  of  the  Egyptian  throne;  and,  if,  riveting 


THE    EDUCATION    OF    MOSES.  73 

the  chains  he  should  break  oiF,  he  had  risen  up  as  a 
renegade  oppressor  of  those  poor  brethren,  to  whom 
he  was  connected  by  ties  of  blood  ;  but  from  whom 
he  was  separated  by  education,  by  religious  train- 
ing, by  the  swelling  pride  of  fortuitous  station,  and 
by  the  graspings  of  ambition  in  an  unholy  mind! 
Better  far  had  the  son  of  Amram  been  smothered 
at  his  birth,  or  seized  by  the  oppressive  law,  or 
swallowed  up  in  the  Nile,  than  be  thus  nurtured  in 
Pharaoh's  house,  in  his  religion,  and  to  the  practice 
of  his  cruelty. 

The  providential  designs  for  the  education  of 
this  favoured  child  include  a  moral  training,  in  full 
keeping  with  all  he  was  to  receive  of  physical,  civil 
and  intellectual.  Moses,  the  Hebrew  foundling, 
might  be  best  protected  by  the  daughter  of  the 
Egyptian  monarch.  Moses,  the  civilian,  might  be 
best  educated  in  the  Egyptian  court.  Moses,  the 
warrior  and  the  leader  of  Israel's  hosts,  might  best 
be  trained  to  command  large  bodies  of  men  in  the 
Egyptian  camp :  Acts  vii.  22.  But  Moses,  in  his 
highest  character,  the  holy  man,  the  prophet  of  Is- 
rael, and  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  must  early 
receive  the  most  important  part  of  his  training  in 
the  humble  abode  of  his  Hebrew  parents,  where 
thankful  adoration  was  paid  to  Jacob's  God ; 
where  renewed  consecration  would  spring  up  from 
his  restoration  to  their  embrace;  and  where  every 
hour  he  might  breathe  an  atmosphere  of  faith  and 
prayer.     How  simple,  yet  how  efficient  the  agency 

\'0L.   I. 7 


74  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

to  reach  this  end  !  The  silver  voice  of  a  girl  is 
heard  by  the  side  of  the  royal  damsel,  and  the 
ready  intelligence  of  Miriam  has  secured  the  bless- 
ing most  to  be  desired.  The  mother  of  the  babe 
becomes  his  nurse. 

Taught  by  the  word  and  the  providence  of  God, 
we  should  learn  to  place  a  high  estimate  upon  the 
earliest  inculcation  of  religious  truth  upon  the 
minds  of  children.  When  we  see  in  every  part  of 
this  narrative  that  the  God  of  providence  secures 
each  designed  and  necessary  result  through  appro- 
priate human  instrumentality,  we  have  no  just 
reason  to  believe  that  the** sterling  and  decided 
piety  of  Moses  had  its  origin  in  miraculous  inter- 
position, apart  from  the  ordinary  means  of  grace. 
And  where  else  than  in  the  abode  of  parental  piety, 
and  in  his  early  life,  did  Moses  become  acquainted 
with  the  covenant  God  of  Israel  ?  It  is  plain, 
from  the  first  circumstance  that  occurred  on  his 
return  to  Egypt,  that  to  his  brother  Aaron  he  was 
no  stranger.  We  do  not  know  how  long  he  was  al- 
lowed to  remain  with  his  Hebrew  nurse.  Doubtless 
the  daughter  of  Pharaoh  was  willingly  relieved  of 
the  attentions  which  childhood  demands,  and  which 
it  frequently  taxes  the  strongest  parental  love  ade- 
quately to  supply ;  and  thus  the  lad  was  left  with 
his  mother  during  a  period  quite  beyond  the  help- 
lessness of  infancy. 

And  if  we  can  trace  the  piety  of  Moses  to 
parental  faithfulness,  we  may  not  only  find  encour- 


THE    EDUCATIUN    OF    I.IOSES.  lb 

agement  for  the  careful  discharge  of  duty,  but  we 
may  believe  also,  from  such  an  example,  that  the 
task  of  a  pious  parent  cannot  be  too  soon  begun. 
What  a  privilege  for  a  child  to  dwell  in  a  house- 
hold of  piety  and  prayer  !  What  a  responsibility 
for  a  parent  when  it  is  otherwise !  When  a  child 
first  awakes  to  notice  the  things  around  him,  let 
the  serious  stated  gathering  for  household  devotion 
become  a  familiar  object.  When  he  first  lisps  the 
syllables  of  articulate  language,  let  his  eyes  be 
directed  upward,  and  his  tongue  taught  to  say, 
"Our  Father;"  let  the  first  names,  out  of  the 
family  circle,  that  greet  his  ears,  be  the  names  of 
those  holy  men  of  old,  whose  records  are  upon  the 
sacred  page ;  and  let  all  his  training  consist  with 
the  culture  of  an  immortal,  rational,  moral  being. 
Teach  him  of  his  own  sinfulness  ;  point  him  for 
its  pardon  to  the  Great  Redeemer ;  and  impress 
upon  him  the  importance  of  living  for  God's  glory 
here,  and  for  his  enjoyment  hereafter.  The  parent 
who  can  neglect  these  teachings,  or  who  fails  to 
mingle  with  them  the  frequent  and  fervent  prayers 
of  an  earnest  heart,  and  to  enforce  them  by  the 
power  of  a  holy  life,  is  recreant  to  his  very  noblest 
duties. 

Let  us  not  be  told  that  you  love  your  child  when 
you  have  given  him  a  comfortable  home ;  when  you 
have  clothed  him  in  apparel  befitting  his  station  ; 
when  you  have  liberally  provided  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  mind;  and  when  you  have  set  before 


76  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

him  your  own  example,  as  a  man  of  industry  and 
integrity  and  truth.  All  these  things  you  may  do, 
and  yet  the  very  best  cultivation  of  the  heart,  and 
the  highest  preparation  of  the  soul  for  usefulness 
to  man  and  for  glory  to  God,  may  be  omitted.  And 
to  omit  these  things  is  to  promote  their  opposite. 
The  child  untrained  to  godliness  is  trained  to 
ungodliness ;  the  influence  withheld  from  the  cause 
of  Christ  is  used  against  it;  and  all  the  advantages 
otherwise  bestowed  upon  your  child,  will  but  in- 
crease his  responsibilities  and  yours,  if  through 
your  neglect  of  his  moral  training,  his  influence  in 
life  is  pernicious,  and  his  soul  is  finally  lost.  How 
much  depends,  for  the  safety  of  the  best  ship  that 
ever  sailed,  upoh  the  hand  that  guides  the  helm  ; 
for  if  the  pilot  is  bent  upon  mischief,  the  very  size 
and  swiftness  of  the  vessel,  and  all  her  superiority, 
in  the  number  of  her  passengers  and  the  value  of 
her  cargo,  will  but  enable  him  to  make  her  sliip- 
wreck  more  disastrous.  A  few  years  ago,  accord- 
ing to  the  current  statements  in  the  papers  of  the 
time,  the  captain  of  a  noble  steamship  upon  the 
Atlantic  gave  evident  tokens  of  insanity ;  and  was 
detected  in  an  attempt  to  run  the  ship  ashore. 
And  you  can  easily  imagine  the  condition  of  the 
passengers,  had  his  indisposition  remained  unper- 
ceiT«i.  Surrounded  by  many  comforts,  even  pro- 
vided with  many  luxuries  for  their  voyage;  moved 
forward  against  wind  and  current  by  the  energy 
of  mighty  machinery  :    exulting   in   the  swiftness 


THE    EDUCATION    OF    MOSES.  77 

with  which  they  were  hurried  across  the  waste  of 
waters,  they  knew  not  that  these  mighty  forces  were 
fearfully  controlled  by  a  hostile  power,  and  that 
in  any  unexpected  moment  the  majestic  fabric 
might  be  directed  to  certain  destruction. 

Even  more  dreadful  than  this,  is  the  conception 
of  an  immortal  mind,  which,  with  all  its  inherent 
and  acquired  excellencies,  is  swayed  by  the  mad- 
ness of  estrangement  from  virtue,  and  of  hostility 
to  God.  The  more  powerful  and  cultivated  is  the 
mind  of  your  child,  the  better  his  standing  of 
rank  and  wealth  in  society,  the  larger  his  sphere 
of  influence ;  in  all  these  things  so  much  the  worse, 
if  the  heart  is  not  schooled  to  piety,  if  the  will  is 
wayward,  if  the  conscience  is  defiled.  Far  better 
neglect  any  other  thing,  even  every  other  thing  in 
instruction,  than  the  education  of  the  heart  to 
piety.  The  conscience  is  the  pilot  of  that  noble 
ship  sent  forth  under  your  care  for  an  immortal 
voyage  ;  and  can  you  store  and  equip  that  vessel 
so  careless  of  the  guide  by  which  she  must  be 
directed  to  the  haven  of  eternal  rest,  or  misdi- 
rected into  the  great  gulf  stream  of  perdition  ? 

The  parental  responsibility  of  thus  caring  for 
and  promoting  the  moral  training  of  each  child,  is 
the  greater  for  one  obvious  reflection,  already  sug- 
gested to  every  thoughtful  mind.  In  the  vast 
majority  of  cases,  it  is  not  within  the  parent's 
power  to  mature  and  eff"ect  wise  and  judicious  plans 
for  the  libera.1  education   of  his   family.     If  the 


78  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

entire  education  of  Moses  had  been  intrusted  to 
his  natural  guardians,  they  could  not  have  fitted 
him  for  the  high  station  he  was  afterwards  to  fill. 
Himself  bound  to  obey  his  Egyptian  task-masters, 
Amram  had  no  power  to  lift  his  son  above  his  own 
servile  condition.  And  many  a  parent  now  can 
scarcely  clothe  and  feed,  much  less  educate  his 
children  as  his  heart  longs  to  do.  But  it  is  a  high 
consolation  to  know  that  the  very  best  portion  of  a 
child's  education  may  be  given,  let  the  worldly 
circumstances  of  the  parent  be  as  they  may.  The 
humble  father  may  be  able  to  feed  his  little  ones 
with  but  a  scanty  portion,  and  to  cover  them  with 
but  tattered  rags  ;  and  yet  nothing  hinders  but 
that  beneath  his  lowly  roof  there  may  be  a  process 
of  education  going  forward,  which  shall  better  fit 
his  children  for  the  stirring  duties  of  life,  and  for 
the  scenes  of  the  judgment-day,  than  the  splendid 
apparelling  and  the  profuse  education  of  those 
born  in  many  a  palace.  If  the  heart  of  that  pov- 
erty-stricken parent  is  itself  right  in  the  sight  of* 
God,  he  is  possessed  of  riches  for  his  child's  inherit- 
ance, with  which  the  mines  of  California  may  not 
be  compared.  Nothing  hinders  but  that  from  the 
open  pages  of  inspiration  he  may  guide  the  con- 
science of  his  immortal  pupil  into  the  wisdom  of 
Grod.  If  he  is  often  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  his 
own  ignorance  and  incompetency  to  discharge 
duties  like  these,  there  is  access  to  the  mercy  seat 
of  a  gracious  God,  as  free  beneath  his  roof  as  in 


THE    EDUCATION    OF   MOSES.  79 

the  vaulted  aisles  of  the  noblest  temple.  The  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  visits  the  abode  of  the  humble ;  tho 
Redeemer's  personal  ministry  was  among  the  poor  ; 
and  many,  even  as  lowly  as  the  beggar  Lazarus, 
Luke  xvi.,  are  the  objects  of  angelic  care  and  the 
heirs  of  eternal  glory. 

Oh,  Christian  parent !  whatever  else  you  may 
lack ;  though  your  child  may  be  meanly  dressed ; 
though  you  must  early  send  him  forth  to  labour  for 
his  livelihood,  deprived  of  the  advantages  of  a 
thorough  education ;  yet  God  has  given  you  favour- 
able and  abundant  opportunities  to  educate  the 
heart.  You  have  the  most  important  time  and  the 
most  important  part  of  his  training  in  your  own 
hands,  as  no  one  else  can  have  it;  and  much  re- 
sponsibility rests  upon  you,  that  he  may  be  sent 
forth  prepared  to  live  aright.  The  chief  end  of 
life  may  be  gained  as  truly  by  a  short  earthly 
career  as  by  a  long  one ;  by  a  poor  man  as  by  a 
rich  one ;  without  a  learned  education  as  with  it. 
The  humble  flower  is  God's  work,  and  shows  his 
glory,  and  stands  where  he  placed  it,  as  truly  as 
the  giant  oak  that  overshadows  it.  Let  but  the 
heart  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  the  weak- 
ness of  our  arm,  the  poverty  of  our  resources,  the 
narrowness  of  our  influence,  and  the  shortness  of 
our  life  shall  be  no  barrier  to  the  final  approval : 
"Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant."  Let 
parents,  pious  or  ungodly,  see  here  their  responsi- 
bility.    You   shall   not   be    called    to    an   account 


80  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

before  God  for  serious  guilt,  should  your  child 
fail  to  become  rich  in  gold,  or  high  in  influence 
and  power  over  men ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  you 
can  be  wholly  guiltless,  if  your  son  is  lacking  in 
moral  principle,  and  if  the  chosen  course  of  his  life 
is  aside  from  the  paths  of  virtue  and  piety. 

We  may  well  imagine  with  what  anxiety  and 
solicitude  the  parents  of  this  Hebrew  child  looked 
forward  to  the  period  when  he  should  be  separated 
from  them,  and  go  to  be,  perhaps,  the  spoiled  and 
pampered  favourite  of  the  palace.  We  instinct- 
ively recognize  that  every  part  of  his  education,  so 
far  as  he  was  intrusted  to  the  parental  control, 
was  given  with  reference  to  the  trials  and  tempta- 
tions which  were  known  to  be  but  a  little  in 
advance  of  him ;  and  as  his  early  years  passed 
rapidly  away,  there  was  an  increasing  solicitude 
for  the  unknown  moment  when  the  king's  daughter 
would  claim  her  charge.  Truly  the  training  of 
Moses  was  a  constant  source  of  anxiety  to  his  par- 
ents. We  judge  that  often  the  fond  mother  cast 
forward  her  thoughts  in  a  vain  attempt  to  antici- 
pate the  events  of  succeeding  years;  and  knowing, 
as  she  did,  some  of  the  temptations  of  a  heathen 
court,  no  doubt  her  fervent  prayers  ascended 
that  when  her  child  was  addressed  by  the  flattering 
splendours  of  the  palace,  he  might  not  forget  the 
humble  dwelling  of  parental  love  ;  that  with  him 
the  gorgeous  ritual  of  paganism  might  not  be  more 
attractive  than  the   simple  services  of  patriarchal 


THE    EDUCATION    OF    MOSES.  81 

piety ;  that  the  sensual  temptations  of  a  corrupt 
people  might  not  lead  him  to  forget  his  early  les- 
sons of  honour  and  purity.  What  parent,  alive  to 
the  true  welfare  of  the  soul,  would  not  tremble  to 
send  forth  a  young  lad,  where  he  would  be  so  likely 
to  forget,  and  even  to  despise  parental  care  and 
parental  piety  ;  and  where  so  many  and  so  strong 
temptations  might  influence  him  to  apostasy  from 
Israel's  covenant  God? 

And  yet  the  anxiety  of  this  Hebrew  household 
but  represents  the  solicitude  that  may  fill  the 
mind  of  every  thoughtful  parent.  Did  these  par- 
ents anticipate  the  dreaded  hour  when  another  roof 
must  shelter  their  child,  when  another  mind  would 
control  him,  when  other  influences  would  educate 
him,  when  other  scenes  would  be  around  him, 
beyond  their  knowledge  and  far  from  all  they 
would  wish  or  approve  ?  And  may  not  similar 
anxieties  fill  the  breast  of  every  parent,  to  make 
him  earnest  in  embracing  his  present  opportuni- 
ties of  influencing  his  child,  lest  each  successive 
day  may  be  the  last  ?  It  is  not  only  the  thought 
that  your  child  may  be  torn  from  your  fond 
embrace.  There  is  the  reflection,  even  more  seri- 
ous, to  quicken  you  in  your  parental  duty,  that  you 
may  yourself  be  removed  from  earth.  Before 
another  month  the  officers  of  the  law  may  appoint 
other  guardians  to  educate  your  children.  They 
may  be  placed  in  circumstances  very  difi'erent  from 
what  you  would  desire.     Not  a  parent  among  us  can 


82  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

tell  who  shall  complete  the  training  we  have  but 
begun  for  our  little  ones.  It  is  with  us  all,  as  with 
the  parents  of  Moses,  that  in  faith,  and  with  prayer 
and  dilicrent  earnestness,  we  are  to  embrace  the 
opportunities  we  now  have ;  for  we  know  not  at  what 
hour  we  must  resign  our  unfinished  task  to  other 
hands. 

Nor  should  we  relax  our  energies  or  remit  our 
care,  in  the  cheerful  prospect  that  we  and  our 
children  may  be  spared  together,  until  they  enter 
on  life's  mature  and  serious  duties.  For  when  we 
are  spared  as  long  as  a  parent  may  hope  to  be ; 
when  we  have  done  all  that  it  is  a  parent's  privi- 
lege to  do,  we  are  well  aware  that  our  children  go 
forth  in  this  unfriendly  and  ungodly  world  to  en- 
counter temptations,  whose  strength  neither  they 
nor  we  can  estimate.  We  know  not  but  that  beyond 
our  sight  there  may  be  undermining  seductions 
of  evil ;  we  know  not  but  that  beyond  our  strength 
of  guardianship  there  may  be  pending  heavy  strokes 
of  calamity;  we  know  not  but  that  when  our  heads 
are  low  in  death,  there  may  be  found  in  them  a 
maturity  of  evil  from  unhappy  passions  we  have 
neglected  to  curb,  or  from  the  absence  of  whole- 
some restraints,  which  we  have  neglected  to  impose. 
These  are  thoughts  to  make  a  parent  watchful  and 
prayerful  and  earnest,  that  in  the  spring  time  of 
early  youth  he  may  uproot  every  evil  plant,  and 
sow  in  his  children's  hearts  the  good  seed  of  the 
kingdom  for  a  harvest  of  usefulness  and  glory. 


THE    EDUCATION    OF    MOSES.  83 

Oh,  happy  parents  of  Moses  !  what  a  rich  in- 
crease has  ensued  from  the  humble  planting  of 
faith  and  piety,  in  that  lowly  habitation  by  the 
reedy  Nile  !  "  Take  this  child  and  nurse  it  for 
me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages,"  said  the  king's 
daughter  to  the  yearning  mother.  But  what  were 
wages  that  would  drain  the  wealth  of  Pharaoh, 
compared  with  the  gushing  emotions  of  maternal 
love,  that  would  have  taken  and  ^nourished  that 
babe,  if  allowed  to  do  so,  even  in  the  most  self- 
denying  circumstances?  And  what  was  the  luxury 
of  even  such  parental  tenderness,  compared  with 
the  holy  rewards  of  faith  and  love  and  self-denial, 
which  are  now  enjoyed  in  heaven  by  those  who 
prepared  for  a  life  of  eminent  usefulness  such  a 
son  as  Moses!  The  thoughts  of  a  parent  must 
wisely  consider  things  beyond  the  tomb.  The 
rewards  of  parental  faithfulness  in  the  world  to 
come,  from  that  God  who  gives  us  children  to 
nurse  for  him,  no  mortal  mind  can  declare.  Next 
to  the  agony  of  losing  one's  own  soul  must  be  the 
distress  of  a  child's  everlasting  departure  from 
God;  and  next  to  the  happiness  of  knowing  that 
we  ourselves  are  accepted  before  God,  is  the  bless- 
edness of  knowing  that  our  children  are  the  friends 
and  servants  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


84  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MOSES  CHOOSING  ISHAEIj. 

''This  above  all — to  (God  and  self)  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 

Shakespeare. 

We  have  no  information  of  the  life  of  Moses  from 
his  childhood  until  he  reached  adult  years.  Doubt- 
less the  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  who  "  nourished  him 
for  her  own  son,"  took  pains  to  have  him  educated 
under  the  most  competent  Egyptian  teachers,  and 
trained  in  the  manly  exercises  and  warlike  arts 
which  belonged,  in  those  ages,  to  the  nurture  of  a 
noble  youth.  The  Scriptures  say  that  "Moses 
was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  ; 
and  was  mighty  in  words  and  in  deeds :"  Acts  vii. 
22.  That  is,  he  was  instructed  in  the  civil,  politi- 
cal, and  military  knowledge  of  that  people ;  and 
doubtless  he  learned  thoroughly  their  religious 
teachings,  though  he  did  not  adopt  them.  Jose- 
phus  declares  that  he  was  a  leader  in  the  Egyptian 
firmies  ;  and  this  is  quite  consistent  with  the  char- 
acter and  conduct  elsewhere  assigned  to  him.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  there  was  a  period  in  the  life 


MOSES    CHOOSING    ISRAEL.  85 

of  Moses  when  his  pious  parents  were  deeply  anx- 
ious in  watching  his  career.  They  had  carefully 
trained  him  to  know  the  Lord  God  of  his  fathers  ; 
they  had  ;ntrusled  him  with  the  secret  of  his  birth 
and  of  his  believing  preservation ;  and  yet  they  could 
not  prevent  his  subsequent  exposure  to  all  the 
temptations  of  an  Egyptian  training.  But  the 
prayers  that  had  invoked  God's  delivering  mercy 
when  he  was  laid  by  the  water's  brink,  were  still 
sent  on  high  ;  or  if,  before  this,  his  parents  were 
already  dead,  their  prayers  were  recorded  and 
remembered  before  the  eternal  throne. 

We  would  like  to  trace,  if  we  could,  the  array  of 
means  which  led  Moses  to  forsake  Egypt,  and  cast 
in  his  lot  with  the  sons  of  Jacob.  We  number 
first  parental  instruction  and  parental  prayer. 
Perhaps  also  he  was  influenced  by  illustrious  exam- 
ples in  past  ages ;  especially,  perhaps,  by  one 
illustrious  name,  honourably  recorded  in  the  aniials 
both  of  Egypt  and  of  Israel.  The  sacred  writings 
set  before  us  the  example  of  some  eminent  be- 
lievers, who  have  in  the  full  prime  of  their  powers, 
and  with  the  prosperous  world  all  before  them,  delib- 
erately chosen  reproach  and  poverty  and  self- 
denial  with  the  people  of  God.  The  glory  of  true 
piety  is  its  power  to  surpass  all  worldly  attractions 
to  the  mind  of  a  believer.  It  may  be  that  the 
mind  of  Moses  was  much  affected  by  the  example 
of  the  patriarch  Joseph,  who  at  the  age  of  thirty 
years  had  so  good  an  opportunity  of  grasping  the 

Vol.  I.— 8 


81)  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

honours  and  wealth  and  pleasures  of  Egypt ;  but 
who  so  nobly  kept  himself  aloof  from  all  that  was 
defiling ;  kept  his  early  faith  in  Israel's  God ;  gave 
full  proof,  for  eighty  long  years  of  prosperity,  that 
his  heart  was  with  the  sons  of  Jacob ;  and  then  trans- 
mitted his  memory,  by  a  solemn  covenant,  for  the 
assurance  to  his  people  that  Egypt  was  not  their 
home. 

But  if  even  we  cannot  trace  the  steps  of  Moses 
as  he  turned  his  back  upon  Egypt,  we  can  recog- 
nize the  nature  and  wisdom  of  the  choice  he  made ; 
and  in  nothing  concerning  Moses  have  we  all  a 
deeper  personal  interest  than  in  this  change.  For 
the  essential  elements  of  true  piety  are  the  same 
in  all  ages ;  it  was  true  then  as  it  is  true  now, 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God ;"  and  just  such  a  change  as 
Moses  met  must  pass  upon  each  one  of  us,  in  order 
to  our  acceptance  before  God.  We  may  not  be  in 
like  circumstances ;  but  we  are  partakers  of  the 
same  nature,  we  are  under  the  same  law,  we  need 
the  same  regenerating  grace  as  Moses. 

We  are  told  of  Moses,  that  "  when  he  was  come 
to  years,  he  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pha- 
raoh's daughter:"  Heb.  xi.  24.  Whatever  impres- 
sions may  have  been  made  upon  him  from  his  ear- 
liest years  ;  however  changing  may  have  been  his 
purposes  and  thoughts  while  yet  he  was  but  a 
child ;  even  though  his  conversion  to  God  may 
have  taken  place   early,   we  are  assured  that  he 


MOSES    CHOOSING    ISRAEL.  87 

ratified  his  choice  when  an  intelligent  and  mature 
mind   carefully    and   deliberately   considered    the 
entire  matter.     And   there  seems  no  just  reason 
why  we  should  not  rank  the  faith  of  Moses  among 
the  great  triumphs  of  Divine  grace,  as  remarkable, 
yet  as  rational,  as  the  change  in  Saul  of  Tarsus. 
We  may  very  easily  conceive  that  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  Jews  long  after  this,  when   Saul,  the 
persecutor,   became    Paul,   the   preacher,   was   no 
greater    than    the    amazement   of  the   Egyptians, 
when   a  young  man,   trained  in   their  court   and 
accustomed  to  the  luxury  of  the  palace,  deliberately 
stepped  forth  to  take  his  place  among  that  rude, 
enslaved  people,  whose  laborious  toils  were  spent 
by  the  borders  of  the  Nile.     To  the  minds  of  the 
Egyptians   there   was    doubtless    something    even 
ungrateful  in  the  stand  now  taken  by  this  ingen- 
uous young  Hebrew.     By  the  care  of  the  princess, 
his  life  had  been  saved ;  she  had  nurtured  him  for 
her  own  son :  she  had  caused  him  to  be  fully  edu- 
cated ;  and  he  had"  prospects  of  honour  and  dignity 
in  the  land.     She  might  reasonably  expect  some 
returns  for  this  kindness.     And  doubtless  the  mind 
of  Moses  fully  appreciated  the  position  in  which 
he  stood,  weighed  the  attractions  of  the  world,  and 
felt  similar  perplexities-  to  those  which  have  often 
troubled  the  anxious  and  inquiring  man.     There 
were  not  indeed  wanting  thoughts  to  vindicate  the 
course  which  Moses  took,  even  in  the  eyes  of  those 
who  might  have  acted  otherwise.     If  he  had  been 


88  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

rescued  from  the  water  by  Pharaoh's  daughter,  yet 
it  was  Egyptian  cruelty  that  had  put  his  life  in 
jeopardy.  If  he  had  been  trained  in  ease  and  lux- 
ury, apart  from  his  brethren ;  yet  again  it  was 
Egyptian  injustice  that  had  reduced  those  brethren 
to  poverty  and  toil.  He  was  educated  and  hon- 
oured ;  but  Egyptian  tyranny  had  kept  the  Israel- 
ites in  bondage  and  ignorance.  The  highest  per- 
sonal respect,  therefore,  upon  the  part  of  Moses 
towards  his  benefactress,  and  the  warmest  gratitude 
for  her  kindness,  might  still  exist  when  he  chose 
most  decidedly  to  go  with  the  children  of  Abra- 
ham. 

And  surely  a  candid  Egyptian  must  have  ac- 
knowledged that  the  change  in  Moses  was  en- 
tirely above  all  suspicion  of  dishonourable,  or  even 
inferior,  motives.  The  motives  which  usually 
actuate  unprincipled  men,  and  lead  to  ungrateful 
or  wicked  conduct,  could  have  no  power  in  a  case 
like  this  ;  and  as  for  selfish  motives,  they  all  mani- 
festly urged  him  in  an  opposite  direction.  Had 
Moses  fulfilled  the  wishes,  and,  as  men  might  say, 
the  reasonable  expectations  of  those  who  had  be- 
friended him,  ease  would  have  been  his  lot,  rather 
than  toil ;  pleasure,  rather  than  affliction ;  riches, 
rather  than  poverty ;  the  favour  of  the  king,  not 
his  wrath  ;  a  place  among  the  rulers,  not  among 
the  slaves  ;  the  delights  of  learned  society,  rather 
than  the  company  of  the  ignorant.  Even  hostile 
and  prejudiced  minds  could  not  question  that  the 


MOSES    CHOOSING    ISRAEL.  89 

conversion  of  Moses  to  the  Jewish  faith  was 
effected  bj  no  power  of  ambitious  or  selfish  motives. 
The  world  seldom  presents  stronger  charms,  or 
binds  down  the  heart  of  man  with  stronger  ties, 
than  were  gathered  around  this  man. 

The  grace  that  converted  Moses  is  none  the  less 
remarkable  because  we  can  see  the  proofs  of  Divine 
favour  through  all  his  life  ;  and  its  triumph  when 
he  turned  his  back  upon  Egypt  is  as  excellent  as 
any  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  church.  The 
only  controlling  reason  for  his  decision  is  found  in 
religion.  True  principle,  the  leadings  of  conscien- 
tious conviction,  made  him  refuse  the  honours  of 
Egypt.  He  teaches  us  that  no  ties  of  education, 
of  worldly  advantage,  or  even  of  gratitude  for 
kindness  shown,  should  prevent  our  just  service  to 
God.  We  need  not  lose  our  kindly  feelings  to- 
wards men  from  whose  views  and  practices  We  are 
constrained  to  stand  apart.  This  man  could  cher- 
ish the  memory  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  yet 
renounce  and  abhor  the  idols  and  the  idol  worship  to 
which  she  was  addicted.  Perhaps  for  no  other 
reasons  could  he  be  justified  in  his  course.  But 
when  a  man  is  influenced  by  truth  and  a  desire  to 
glorify  God,  everything  not  in  harmony  with  these 
should  give  way ;  and  any  forsaking  of  worldly 
plans  and  associates,  any  transformation  of  charac- 
ter and  life,  may  legitimately  spring  forth  from 
these  things.  Wisdom,  justice,  duty,  and  true 
kindness  to  man,  ever  prompt  us,  at  whatever  sac- 

8  * 


90  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

rifices,  to  yield  ourselves  to  God's  service.  Nothing 
is  wise  or  reasonable,  if  the  worship  and  glory  of 
God  are  not. 

The  choice  of  a  religious  life  does  not  take  the 
heart  of  man  by  storm,  in  any  such  sense  as  to 
preclude  just  and  deliberate  thought.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  most  thorough  awakening,  and  the  most 
urgent  anxiety  of  a  sinful  soul,  should  not  interfere 
with  the  clearest  exercise  of  wise  intelligence. 

Moses  is  an  example  to  all  time  after  him  :  and 
in  his  choice  every  man  may  see  the  principles 
by  which  we  should  all  be  animated. 


THE    GREAT    CHOICE.  91 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
TffZ7  gbi:j.t  csoice. 

'•  The  son  of  Amram  spurns  the  regal  prize, 
From  pride  and  luxury  the  hero  flies; 
Forsakes  the  Egyptian  court  with  cheerful  zeal. 
And  pleasure  finds  and  joy,  with  lowly  Israel." 

Few  men  have  ever  made  choice  of  religion  un 
der  more  unfavourable  circumstances,  or  at  greatei 
sacrifices  of  an  earthly  kind,  than  Moses.  He  is, 
for  this,  only  the  more  excellent  example :  for  we 
may  find  among  the  things  he  surrendered,  and 
among  the  things  he  chose,  the  recognition  of- every 
principle  which  men  must  acknowledge  in  every 
land  and  age,  when  they  forsake  the  world  for  the 
church  of  God.  Few  men  have  given  up  more  of 
the  world,  or  when  they  were  better  able  to  hold 
it,  than  Moses  did.  And  when  we  see  how  reason- 
able and  excellent  his  choice  was,  we  have  the 
stronger  argument  to  show  that  the  embraro  of 
the  same  principles,  with  all  their  consequenc-s,  is 
yet  more  reasonable  for  other  men. 

Religion,  in  his  case,  is  considered  as  tht  free 
choice  of  a  reasonable  soul.  So  it  ever  is.  For 
the  influences  of  Divine  grace,  desirable  and  necf-^ 


92  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

sarj  as  they  are,  do  not  interfere  with  the  freedom 
of  man's  will.  Now  in  every  choice  there  is  im- 
plied the  refusal  and  the  acceptance  of  certain 
things  ;  and  these  things  must  be  considered ;  and 
the  man,  and  the  motives  which  influence  him, 
must  be  considered,  that  we  may  justly  estimate 
the  choice  itself. 

We  bring  before  our  minds, 

X.  The  World  he  surrendered. 

Substantially  the  world  is  the  same  to  every 
man  ;  all  its  attractions  may  be  included  in  a  brief 
summary  that  is  the  same  in  every  age ;  and 
though  the  prospects  and  the  possessions  of  men 
are  as  different  as  possible,  men  all  hasten  onward 
in  much  the  same  paths.  Three  especial  things 
engross  the  thoughts  of  men :  honour,  pleasure, 
and  wealth.  All  these,  and  in  their  brightest  forms, 
were  spread  before  the  mind  of  Moses  ;  and  he 
renounced  them  all. 

The  path  of  honour  sometimes  leads  a  man  to 
seek  power  by  ambitious  enterprises,  or  by  the  in- 
fluence of  superior  wisdom  and  learning.  Had 
Moses  been  an  ambitious  man,  he  had  many  oppor- 
tunities to  gratify  such  a  passion.  Educated  in  a 
warlike  age,  and  among  a  warlike  people,  we  can 
scarcely  doubt  that  he  was  bred  to  arm^ ;  and 
without  adopting  the  opinion  of  Josephus,  that  the 
princess  wished  to  make  him  the  heir  of  the  throne, 
we  may  believe  that  a  man  of  his  capacity  might 


THE    GREAT    CHOICE.  93 

have  gone  forward  to  a  splendid  career,  had  he 
been  ambitious  to  serve  in  the  Egyptian  armies. 
And  the  success  he  afterwards  achieved  in  his  writ- 
ings, plainly  shows,  that  as  a  man  of  learning,  the 
prospect  of  honourable  distinction  lay  before  him. 

The  riches  of  Egypt  are  named  expressly  among 
the  things  renounced  by  Moses.  Earthly  riches 
are  exceedingly  attractive  to  earthly  minds ;  and 
not  only  those  who  become  rich,  but  those  who 
desire  it,  fall  into  many  snares  and  dangerous  lusts. 
And  w^e  can  well  conceive  that  the  surrender  of 
wealth  and  luxury  is  a  much  more  difficult  thing 
to  one  who  has  from  his  childhood  been  accustomed 
to  all  their  pampering  influence.  Moses,  though  the 
foster-child  of  the  king's  daughter,  gave  up  the 
treasures  of  Egypt. 

The  pleasures  of  sin  allured  him.  And  a  gifted, 
noble  young  man,  would  find  many,  in  a  dissolute, 
pagan  court,  to  place  before  him  the  temptations  to 
the  various  pleasures  which  there  abound.  No- 
where, indeed,  would  dissolute  pleasures  be  more 
likely  to  gain  a  young  man's  attention,  than  in 
circumstances  like  those  which  surrounded  this 
Hebrew  lad,  at  the  critical  period  of  his  life.  But 
he  was  willing  to  surrender  the  world's  enjoyments. 

Very  inviting  indeed  must  the  world  have  seemed 
to  the  eye  of  Moses.  Few  men  are  more  capable 
of  excelling  in  the  pursuit  of  all  it  offers ;  few  have 
greater  advantages  to  begin  life  ;  few  seem  more 
entangled  by  the  circumstances  that  prevent  a  man 


94  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

from  renouncing  the  world;  and  we  may  therefore 
conclude  that  if  Moses  wisely  forsook  Egypt,  gave 
up  its  treasures,  and  despised  its  joys,  the  surren- 
der of  a  vain  world  may  be  justified  in  any  other 
man. 

But  we  further  consider 

II.  Hie  Church  he  embraced. 

He  gave  Egypt  up  for  Israel.  And  there  are 
two  special  aspects  of  the  church  of  God  which 
we  may  notice,  as  characterizing  the  choice  made 
by  him  at  this  time.  We  may  consider  those 
essential  principles  of  self-denial  which  always  and 
everywhere  belong  to  piety ;  and  those  particular 
disadvantages  of  religion  that  are  sometimes 
greater  than  at  other  times,  and  which  are  seldom 
more  grievous  than  as  they  were  borne  by  Moses. 
Every  man  who  truly  becomes  a  believer  in  the 
gospel  must  take  up  his  cross.  So  Paul  speaks  of 
him  as  "suffering  affliction  with  the  people  of  God," 
and  as  bearing  "the  reproach  of  Christ."  Not  per- 
sonal ambition*  but  the  glory  of  God;  not  the 
short-lived,  sensual  pleasures,  which  men  naturally 
seek,  but  the  mortification  of  all  these,  and  the 
pursuit  of  joys  of  a  nature  wholly  different ;  not 
earthly  riches,  but  treasures  laid  up  on  high,  must 
they  prefer,  who  are  truly  followers  of  God,  and 
members  of  his  church.  And  there  is  no  true  piety 
where  a  man  loves  any  earthly  thing  more  than 
Christ,  or  hesitates  at  Christ's  command  to  follow 


THE    GREAT    CHOICE.  95 

him,  or  refuses  in  his  service  to  give  up  property, 
comfort,  or  life. 

And  yet  we  know  that  there  are  prosperous 
times,  when  many  of  the  burdens  which  other  ages 
of  the  church  have  borne,  do  not  press  so  hardly 
upon  the  sons  of  Zion.  We  may  sit  under  our 
own  vine  and  fig  tree,  and  have  none  to  molest  us. 
The  church  of  Christ  may  be  honoured  in  the  land, 
and  may  embrace  among  her  members  the  useful 
and  respected  of  society.  And  happy  is  the  land 
where  the  influence  of  true  religion  is  largest,  and 
where  a  consistent  profession  of  piety  secures  the 
largest  respect.  The  essential  claims  of  religion, 
as  a  system  demanding  self-denial,  purity,  and 
charity,  are  not  changed  when  the  external  circum- 
stances of  the  church  are  most  favourable ;  but 
surely  it  requires  far  less  moral  courage  to  make  a 
profession  of  religion,  at  such  a  time,  than  in 
periods  of  distress  and  persecution. 

But  Moses  not  only  gave  up  the  loose  principles, 
and  practices,  and  pleasures,  of  a  heathen  land  for 
the  strict  maxims  and  stern  duties  of  a  holv  reli- 
gion;  he  embraced  this  religion  at  a  time  when  the 
tide  of  its  unpopularity  was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  In- 
deed, he  passed  from  one  extreme  to  the  other ; 
and  embraced  the  reverse  of  all  he  might  have  kept 
in  the  Egyptian  court.  The  high  prospects  of 
honour  which  Egypt  offered,  he  exchanged  for  the 
low  estate  of  those  downcast  brethren  who  were 
scattered  through  the  land  in  bondage  and  oppres- 


96  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

sion.  The  pleasures  of  heathenism  he  gave  up, 
the  treasures  of  Egypt  he  renounced — to  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  poverty-stricken  and  the  self-deny- 
ing. As  in  the  case  of  Paul,  so  long  afterwards, 
where  we  can  find  no  trace  of  selfish  or  worldly 
wisdom,  dictating  his  remarkable  change,  or  giving 
him  support  in  his  long  and  arduous  toils,  so  we 
may  see  that  Moses  gave  up  everything  desirable 
in  the  world's  esteem  for  those  very  things  which 
natural  minds  wish  to  shun.  And  if  his  choice  can 
be  justified,  if  the  worst  of  religion  can  wisely  be 
preferred  to  the  best  of  the  world;*  then  is  the 
example  of  Moses  one  of  peculiar  force,  to  urge 
that  theirs  is  the  greatest  folly  who  stand  back 
from  the  service  of  God,  in  the  happier  times  in 
which  we  live.  "  The  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in 
pleasant  places,  and  we  have  a  goodly  heritage." 
In  this  change  of  Moses  we  consider 

III.   The  3£an  and  his  Motives, 

It  is  worthy  of  our  particular  notice  that,  here 
and  elsewhere,  the  Scriptures  bring  before  us  the 
conversion  of  men  who  turn  not  away  from  the 
world  because  they  are  unable  longer  to  enjoy  it. 
We  see  here  no  death-bed  conversion,  no  change 
in  a  man  who  can  hold  the  world  no  longer,  and 
who  then  consents  to  exchange  it  for  hopes  of  an- 
other. Moses  was  come  to  years,  that  is  of  matu- 
vity,  not  satiety.     With  the  brightest  of  the  world 

*  A.  Fuller. 


THE    GREAT    CHOICE.  97 

before  him;  he  able  to  judge  of  it,  able  to  enjoy  it; 
with  the  pleasures,  associates,  engagements,  and,  as 
many  would  judge,  even  the  duties  of  life  binding 
him  down  ;  with  nothing  surely  but  principle  to 
draAV  him  toward  Israel,  Moses  decided.  And 
God's  converting  word  has  no  nobler  triumphs  in 
any  age,  and  it  has  just  such  triumphs  in  every 
age  ;  and  it  is  ever  a  reasonable  service  when  any 
man  yields  himself  to  its  influence.  When  a  young 
man  breaks  away  from  the  brightest  earthly  pros- 
pects and  the  strongest  earthly  ties,  and  yields 
himself  to  God's  service,  the  renewing  grace  of 
God  is  exalted. 

But  what  were  the  principles  by  which  Moses 
was  actuated ;  and  how  can  we  reasonably  justify 
this  great  change  ?  The  Apostle  suggests  several 
terms,  which  may  explain  the  whole.  He  says,  all 
this  Moses  did  BY  faith.  And  this  term  implies 
the  reception,  on  his  part,  of  those  great  teachings 
of  revealed  religion,  which  had  specially  been  kept 
among  the  sons  of  Abraham,  and  of  which  to  us, 
Moses  is  himself  the  first  authoritative  expounder. 
He  had  learned  from  parental  lips  the  Hebrew 
theology;  he  had  been  made  acquainted  with  the 
covenant  made  by  God  with  Abraham ;  he  had 
doubtless  compared  these  teachings  with  the  subtle 
spirit  of  the  Egyptian  idolatry,  and  he  had  care- 
fully marked  the  tendencies  of  both.  And  not 
thoughtlessly,  but  deliberately,  he  not  only  chose 
the  doctrines  of  Israel,  but  relied  upon  the  prom- 

VoL.  I.— 9 


98  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ises  of  the  covenant  of  God.  Israel  was  now  in- 
deed in  trouble  ;  had  he  consulted  his  own  ease  ; 
had  he  been  governed  by  the  apparent  prospects 
before  him  and  them  ;  had  he  not  fully  believed 
the  word  he  received,  he  would  still  have  remained 
in  the  court  and  the  pleasures  of  Egypt. 

Three  expressions  of  the  Apostle  may  teach  us 
the  characteristics  of  the  faith  of  Moses.  1st.  He 
"endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  He  be- 
lieved the  Hebrew  doctrine  of  one  living,  infinite, 
omnipresent,  unseen  God;  and  conscious  of  his 
responsibility  to  him,  desirous  of  pleasing  him, 
relying  upon  his  promises  of  support  and  protec- 
tion, he  acted  upon  this  faith.  2d.  He  chose  "afflic- 
tion with  the  people  of  God"  rather  than  the  pleas- 
ures of  sin  ;  and  "the  reproach  of  Christ"  before 
the  treasures  of  Egypt.  It  is  no  man's  wisdom  to 
choose  affliction  and  reproach  for  their  own  sake. 
But  Christ  and  his  cause  and  his  people  have  ever 
borne  reproach ;  and  he  is  no  true  follower  who  is 
not  willing  to  bear  whatever  reproach  may,  in  any 
age  or  land,  attend  the  consistent  profession  and 
support  of  the  principles  of  the  gospel.  It  seldom 
occurs  that  the  world  cannot  promise  more  to  a 
worldly  mind  than  the  gospel  promises;  but  the 
world  promises  far  more  than  it  ever  performs, 
and  its  best  pleasures  are  but  for  a  brief  season. 
But  Moses  did  not  surrender  for  nothing  all  the 
prospects  of  honour  and  gain  which  the  flattering 
world  held  forth  to  attrnct  him.      His  was  no  foolish 


THE    GREAT    CHOICE.  99 

choice,  either  in  itself,  or  in  its  prospects.  The 
promise  of  .Christ's  coming  was,  perhaps,  a  matter 
of  reproach  in  heathen  lips  :  to  receive  and  rest 
upon  Christ  for  salvation  has  ever  characterized 
piety,  yet  ever  been  offensive  to  self-righteous  men; 
true  and  exemplary  piety  the  world  always  recog- 
nizes, and  ever  reproaches;  the  people  of  God 
always  suffer  reproach,  and  never  more  than  in 
Egypt;  yet,  in  choosing  what  the  world  refused, 
Moses  exhibited  the  highest  wisdom.  And  the 
Apostle  adds,  3d,  That  he  had  respect  unto  the 
recompense  of  the  reward.  Moses  did  not  expect 
earthly  gains.  All  earthly  prospects  he  surren- 
dered. He  believed,  indeed,,  that  Israel  should 
leave  Egypt ;  but  we  have  no  reason  to  judge  that 
his  own  leadership  was  before  his  mind  when  he 
cast  in  his  lot  with  a  poor  and  afflicted  people, 
especially  as  forty  years  passed  before  he  truly 
became  their  leader.  For  this  life,  Moses  secured 
one  great  blessing,  which  piety  always  bestows, 
and  which  is,  indeed,  the  highest  earthly  posses- 
sion. He  gained  the  approbation  of  his  own  con- 
science. Moses  embraced  truth  and  duty  ;  and  for 
every  man  this  is  the  only  proper  foundation  of 
true  happiness.  It  is  not  in  the  downy  couch,  the 
sumptuous  feast,  the  costly  apparel,  or  the  sound- 
ing honour ;  but  in  the  approving  heart,  and  in  the 
smile  of  God,  that  man  can  find  true  peace. 

And  faith's  recompense  of  reward  ends  not  with 
this  mortal   life.     Moses  was  a  believer.     He  re- 


100  THE    HEBKEW    LAWGIVER. 

garded  as  living  realities  the  great  things  promised 
in  the  covenant  of  God ;  and  earth's  honours  and 
joys  were  as  transient  and  fleeting  shadows,  com- 
pared with  the  substance  of  his  invisible  things. 
What  need  he  care  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pha- 
raoh's daughter,  who  might,  by  a  higher  adoption, 
be  ranked  among  the  sons  of  God  ?  What  needed 
he  to  care  for  a  perilous  crown  on  earth,  whose  eye 
discerned  faith's  crown  of  unfading  righteousness 
beyond  the  sky  ?  What  cared  he  for  the  pleasures 
of  sin  for  a  season,  who  was  allowed  to  exchange 
them  for  the  everlasting  pleasures  of  God's  ex- 
alted service  ?  Moses  made  no  foolish  decision. 
He  has  never  repented  of  his  choice,  and  never 
will. 

Perhaps  human  history  nowhere  else  records  so 
remarkable  a  renunciation  of  worldly  prospects,  as 
in  the  case  of  Moses.  Emperors  and  kings  have 
renounced  their  thrones  and  retired  to  private  life  ; 
but  always  through  pride  or  selfishness,  and  never 
once  at  the  bidding  of  righteous  principle,  while  yet 
in  the  vigour  of  their  own  powers,  and  in  the  full 
tide  of  honour.  Moses  stands  alone.  And  if  we 
can  see  in  him  every  characteristic  of  a  genuine 
piety,  contempt  for  the  world,  love  towards  God's 
people,  faith  in  God's  promises,  patience  in  long 
trials,  and  zeal  to  do  the  will  of  God,  why  should 
we  not  place  him  before  us,  as  an  example  for  our 
own  imitation  ?  Indeed,  should  we  not  much  more 
imitate  him,   since  we  have,  in  many  things,  the 


THE    GREAT   CHOICE.  101 

advantage  of  him ;  clearer  instructions  in  the 
doctrines  and  privileges  of  God's  people,  hap- 
pier times  and  less  arduous  services  invite  us 
to  choose  the  same  God,  and  to  walk  in  the  same 
steps. 

9  * 


102  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MOSES  IN  TME  DESERT  OF  MIDIAN. 

"  The  good  man  suffers  but  to  gain, 
And  every  virtue  springs  from  pain : 
As  aromatic  plants  bestow 
But  little  fragrance  as  they  grow ; 
But  crushed,  or  trodden  to  the  ground, 
Diffuse  their  spicy  odours  'round." 

Goldsmith. 

How  long  Moses  remained  in  Egypt  after  the 
notable  change  which  led  him  to  choose  his  own 
people,  we  cannot  decide.  But  it  would  appear 
that  already  he  began  to  understand  his  mission  as 
a  deliverer.  How  this  call  was  made  known  to 
him,  we  cannot  determine;  but  we  must  admit, 
upon  his  part,  a  mistaken  conception  of  the  time 
of  success.  Neither  were  the  people  ready  to 
receive  him  in  this  capacity,  nor  he  ready  to  dis- 
charge the  duties.  God  usually  calls  men  into  his 
kingdom  of  grace,  and  then  gives  them  some  work 
to  do  there;  but  the  readiness  of  the  young  con- 
vert to  do  something,  is  often  far  in  advance  of  his 
preparation,  and  of  his  correct  estimate  of  the  dif- 
ficulties before  him.  The  young  zeal  of  Melanch- 
thon  was  no  match  for  the  strength  of  the  old  Adam. 


MOSES    IN   THE    DESERT    OF   MIDIAN.  103 

Perhaps,  in  comparing  the  early  zeal  of  Moses, 
when  he  thought  "that  his  brethren  would  have 
understood  that  God,  by  his  hand,  would  deliver 
them,"  Acts  vii.  25,  with  his  shrinking  back  from 
this  same  duty  at  a  later  time,  Ex.  iv.  13,  we  may 
find  the  reason  for  his  exile  for  forty  years  in  Mid- 
ian,  and  the  proof  that  these  years  had  not  been 
spent  in  vain.  The  early  years  spent  in  Egypt 
have  done  much  to  cultivate  the  vigour  of  his  mind, 
and  to  make  him  acquainted  with  the  elements  of 
human  wisdom.  But  hitherto  he  has  not  had 
enough  of  that  subjection  and  retirement,  which  so 
help  a  man  to  know  himself,  and  fit  him  to  bear 
the  heavy  responsibilities  of  life.  The  wisdom  of 
Divine  Providence  is  quite  unlike  the  wisdom  of 
man.  God  does  not  always  accept  our  services 
when  we  are  ready  to  ofi'er  them,  nor  esteem  us  fit 
for  duty  when  are  anxious  to  engage  in  it.  We 
might  think  that  Moses,  designed  for  so  great  du- 
ties in  the  church  of  God,  was,  at  forty  years,  of  suf- 
ficient maturity;  and  that  the  active  period  of  his 
life  should  begin  at  eighty,  would  seem  anything 
but  preferable.  But  this  is  the  Divine  plan  for  the 
life  of  the  Jewish  Lawgiver. 

No  disapprobation  is  expressed  upon  the  sacred 
pages  of  the  act  of  Moses  in  slaying  the  Egyptian 
oppressor.  It  is  sufficient,  therefore,  for  us  to  say 
that  too  little  is  recorded  respecting  the  transac- 
tion, to  justify  any  censure  upon  our  part.  Yet  the 
deed  evidently   awakened  the   displeasure  of  the 


104  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

king,  and  sent  Moses  forth  as  an  exile  from  Egypt. 
He  took  refuge  in  the  land  of  Midian,  and  having 
casually  aided  the  daughters  of  Jethro,  he  after- 
wards took  up  his  abode  with  him.  The  Midianites 
were  an  Arabian  tribe,  descended  from  Abraham 
by  his  wife,  Keturah:  Gen.  xxv.  2 — 4.  Doubt- 
less they  were  of  nomadic  habits ;  for  though  we 
read  that  Moses,  in  keeping  the  flocks  of  Jethro, 
led  them  to  Mount  Sinai,  we  afterwards  understand 
that  his  father-in-law  lived  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  the  encampment  of  the  Israelites:  Ex. 
xviii.  This  is  again  confirmed  by  the  apparent 
familiarity  of  Hobab,  his  brother-in-law,  with  the 
region  of  country  through  which  Moses  was  to  pabb : 
Numb.  x.  31.  Raguel  or  Jethro  is  called  2^  priest 
of  the  Midianites :  this  may  refer  as  much  to  civil 
as  to  religious  power.*  We  have  no  means  of  de- 
ciding how  far  these  descendants  of  Abraham  may 
have  preserved  pure  the  religion  of  the  patriarchs. 
We  have  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  they  were 
idolaters ;  and  as  Moses  invited  his  brother-in-law 
to  join  himself  to  Israel,  Numb.  x.  29 — 31,  and  as 
this  invitation  seems  afterwards  to  have  been 
accepted,  and  their  descendants  dwelt  among  the 
people  of  Israel,  Judges  i.  16,  it  is  likely  that  the 
religion  of  this  portion  of  the  Midianites  was  free 
from  idolatry,  and  not  much  different  from  that  of 
Moses. 

*  Sheykh  exactly  expresses  the  union  of  the  religious  and  political 
influence.     Smith's  Diet.  Bible,  ii.  426. 


MOSES    IN    THE    DESERT    OF    MIDIAN.  105 

When  Moses  fled  from  Egypt,  he  sat  down  by  a 
well  in  the  desert.  Perhaps  he  sat  there  weary 
and  thirsty ;  and,  like  another,  in  later  times,  he 
had  nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  was  deep: 
John  iv.  11.  Here  his  valour  and  warlike  skill  pre- 
vailed to  drive  off  the  shepherds,  who  would  have 
prevented  the  daughters  of  Jethro  from  watering 
their  flocks.  At  the  invitation  of  their  father,  he 
joined  himself  to  the  tribe;  and,  like  Jacob  with 
Laban,  served  him  as  a  master,  until  he  married 
into  the  family.  We  have  no  record  of  the  date 
of  this  marriage.  Forty  years  after  his  flight 
from  Egypt,  his  sons  are  spoken  of  as  being  yet 
children:  and  the  Ethiopian — rather  the  Cushite — 
descent  of  his  wife  was  made  a  matter  of  unjust 
reproach  on  the  part  of  his  kindred.  Yet  here  the 
term  Ethiopian  signifies  Arabian,  not  African. 

So  far  as  we  are  able  to  gather  from  the  narra- 
tive, the  condition  of  Moses  in  Arabia  was  one  of 
great  aflSiction  and  humiliation.  What  an  affecting 
contrast  may  we  draw  between  the  worldly  advan- 
tages possessed  by  him  in  the  Egyptian  palace, 
and  the  menial  position  of  herdsman  in  those  des- 
erts. Even  his  marriage  was  humiliating.  He 
was  not  able,  according  to  the  customs  of  those 
lands,  to  pay  a  dowry  for  his  wife;  and  perhaps 
she  and  her  family  only  despised  the  folly  that 
could  surrender  his  prospects  in  Egypt,  and  re- 
garded him  as  one  dependent  on  his  father-in-law 
for  his  daily  bread.     The  names  he  bestowed  upon 


106  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

his  sons  seem  to  indicate  the  changeful  feelings  of 
Moses ;  dejected,  yet  hopeful ;  not  comfortable  in 
the  land  of  exile,  yet  not  at  all  disposed  to  give 
up  his  faith  in  the  God  of  Jacob.  He  called  the 
first  Gershom — "a  stranger  here,"  or,  as  some  say, 
"a  desolate  stranger;"*  but  the  other  Eliezer — 
"God  is  my  help:"t  Ex.  xviii.  3.  His  poverty 
may  be  gathered  from  the  manner  of  his  return  to 
Egypt;  himself  on  foot,  and  one  poor  beast  for  his 
household.  Was  not  Moses  disappointed  in  the 
advantages  to  be  gained  by  leaving  Egypt  for  Is- 
rael? Not  at  all.  Doubtless,  in  these  long  years, 
there  were  many  hours  of  darkness.  Many  a  time, 
it  may  be,  faith  drooped  in  dejection.  But  thus 
God  was  carrying  on  his  work  in  the  heart  of  Mo- 
ses; and  he  was  gathering  treasures  of  experience, 
that  made  him  richer  than  gold.  Divine  wisdom 
carries  on  its  work  in  the  man,  rather  than  around 
him ;  improves  the  hearts  of  believers,  rather  than 
ih-Qiv  property ;  and  the  humiliation  of  which  his 
people  so  largely  partake,  is  a  necessary  prepara- 
tion for  the  exaltation  they  are  yet  to  share. 

And  while  in  one  land  God  is  fitting  the  deliv- 
erer of  Israel  for  his  work,  the  people  in  Egypt  are 
passing  through  a  like  process  of  humiliation  ;  and 
they  are  the  more  dejected,  because  they  know  no 
man  at  all  fitted  to  project  their  redemption.  If 
any  of  them  had  fixed  their  thoughts  upon  Moses, 
they  have  now  lost  sight  of  him  for  nearly  half  a 

*  Bush.  t  See  Kurtz's  Hist.  Old  Gov.  i.  196,  197. 


MOSES    IX    THE    DESERT    OF    MIDIAX.  107 

century.  The  oppression  still  continued ;  the 
change  of  rulers  brought  no  salutary  change  in 
their  condition;  but  this  beneficial  result,  at  least, 
came  of  their  anguish — that  the  people  cried  unto 
God.  In  all  times,  this  is  the  strength  of  Zion ; 
and  God  puts  his  people  upon  praying  before  he 
rises  for  their  relief.  They  cried  unto  him;  he 
remembered  his  covenant,  and  the  day  of  deliver- 
ance drew  near.  How  instructive  is  the  lesson, 
and  how  frequently  is  it  repeated  in  the  teachings 
of  God's  word,  and  in  the  workings  of  his  provi- 
dence, that  when  God's  people  are  driven  to  their 
knees  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his  covenant,  the  time 
of  relief  is  near!  God  arises  and  has  mercy  on 
Zion,  and  the  set  time  of  her  favour  is  come,  when 
her  people  take  pleasure  in  her  stones,  and  favour 
her  dust:  Ps.  cii.  13,  14.  And  it  often  happens 
that  the  mass  of  the  professed  people  of  God  are 
engrossed  in  worldly  cares,  and  forgetful  of  him, 
when  a  few  burdened  and  humble  ones  draw  near 
with  tearful  supplications,  to  ask  God's  delivering 
mercy.  In  all  ages  the  Lord  of  Zion  has  been  the 
hearer  of  prayer,  and  no  earnest  cry  from  his  suf- 
fering people  is  ever  unheard  by  him. 

Horeb  and  Sinai  are  names  used  interchangeably 
in  the  writings  of  Moses ;  yet,  distinctively,  Horeb 
is  the  name  applied  to  the  range  of  Arabian  moun- 
tains,* and  Sinai  is  a  single  mountain.  Upon  one 
occasion,  Moses  led  his  father-in-law's  flocks  to  that 

*  Robinson's  Bib.  Res.  i.  177,  551. 


108  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

part  of  the  desert  which  is  in  sight  of  Horeb,  per- 
haps of  Sinai,  as  it  is  called  the  mountain  of  God: 
Ex.  iii.  1.  Here  he  saw  a  vision.  A  thorn-bush 
on  the  side  of  the  mountain  flamed  with  fire,  and 
yet  was  not  consumed.  And  as  the  astonished 
shepherd  drew  near  to  see  this  stran'ge  sight,  we 
too  may  desire  an  insight  into  this  great  mystery. 
But  as  Moses  approached  the  spot,  a  voice  ad- 
dressed him,  bade  him  draw  not  too  near,  and  to 
put  ofi"  his  shoes  from  his  feet,  for  he  stood  on  holy 
ground.  Oriental  customs  differ  very  much  from 
ours.  With  them  the  shoe  is  a  mere  sole,  worn  to 
protect  the  foot  from  injury,  not  from  dust  and  dirt. 
So  the  feet  of  a  guest  are  washed,  among  the  com- 
mon hospitalities  of  the  land;  so  while  we  uncover 
the  head  as  a  token  of  reverence,  they  always  keep 
this  covered,  and  uncover  the  feet.  Visitors  enter- 
ing a  dwelling,  or  scholars  a  school,  put  off  their 
shoes.  Especially  upon  entering  any  sacred  place, 
the  shoe  must  be  put  off.  Christians,  Moslems, 
and  Pagans,  observe  the  same  custom.  So  the 
priests  were,  after  this,  commanded  to  minis- 
ter before  God  barefooted.  And  surely  the  sig- 
nificancy  of  this  should  ever  be  upon  our  minds, 
when  we  appear  in  the  sanctuary  where  God  mani- 
fests himself.  The  place  where  we  stand  is  holy 
ground.  We  do  not  see  a  burning  bush,  nor  trem- 
ble before  a  flaming  mountain.  We  may  come 
with  holy  boldness.  Yet  let  us  ever  remember 
God's  presence;  let  us  cultivate  godly  fear;  let  us 


MOSES    IN    THE    DESEKT   OF    MIDIAN.  109 

repress  irreverent  familiarity.  Ours  is  a  high  and 
holy  privilege,  when  we  approach  God  through  the 
new  and  living  way,  Heb.  x.  19;  but  the  more 
humility  and  seriousness  we  possess,  in  every  time 
of  worship,  the  greater  will  be  both  our  delight  and 
our  profit. 

Vol.  I.— 10 


liO  THE    HEJ3KEW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  X. 

TSE  BTTRNING  BUSH. 

"Do  deep  afflictions  try,  like  gold, 

Thy  faith  ?     Then  with  the  prophet  turn, 
Draw  near  the  mountain  side,  behold 

How  unconsumed  a  bush  doth  burn  ! 
Put  ofiF  thy  shoes  and  veil  thy  face, 
For  God  is  in  the  holy  place."  Anon. 

God's  works  and  wonders  are  never  in  vain ;  de- 
sign marks  every  work,  and  significancj  every  em- 
blem. Man  feigns  miracles  that  have  no  efficacy, 
and  wonders  that  have  no  meaning ;  but  this  is  the 
excellence  of  Divine  teachings,  that  simple  terms 
are  often  full  of  expression,  and  call  forth  our 
admiration,  that  so  great  things  can  be  taught  in 
so  brief  a  space.  And  the  Scriptures  doubtless 
give  us  so  many  emblems  and  parables,  because 
they  are  both  easily  remembered  and  filled  with 
abundant  instruction. 

Moses  saw  a  hush,  a  bramble  bush;  not  a  stately 
palm,  or  a  magnificent  cedar.  This  bush  is  taken 
as  an  emblem  of  Israel,  the  church  of  God.  A 
similar  figure  is  used  long  afterwards,  by  the 
prophet  Zechariah,  i.  8,  in  whose  vision  a  grove  of 
myrtles  in  a  lowly  valley,  is  made  to  represent  the 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  Ill 

afflicted  church.  The  contrary  figure  of  a  lofty 
tree  to  signify  a  proud  and  flourishing  empire,  is 
used  by  Ezekiel,  xxxi.  3,  and  Daniel,  iv.  10-12, 
respecting  Assyria  and  Babylon.  Glorious  as  are 
the  things  that  are  spoken  of  Zion,  her  fitting 
similitude,  hitherto  in  the  world's  history,  is  the 
humble  bush.  Especially  when  the  shepherd 
prophet  stood  in  the  desert  of  Sinai,  this  emblem 
suited  Israel.  Egypt  might  then  be  set  forth  as 
the  forest  tree ;  but  Jacob  was  overshadowed  and 
lowly.  And  if  not  as  to  condition,  yet  as  to  char- 
acteristics, so  must  the  church  ever  be  in  the  world. 
Not  the  mighty,  but  the  weak,  not  the  proud,  but 
the  humble,  are  called.  God  condescends  to  men 
of  low  estate,  and  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  preached 
to  the  poor. 

But  the  bush  was  not  the  remarkable  part  of  the 
vision.  It  burned  with  fire,  and  was  not  consumed. 
This  it  was  that  drew  the  attention  of  Moses. 
Two  different  interpretations  have  been  put  upon 
this  emblem.  1st.  Many  have  regarded  the  fire  as 
emblematic  of  the  afflictions  endured  by  the  people 
of  God ;  and  to  which  Israel,  in  Egypt,  was  now 
subject :  and,  2d,  Others  take  it  as  an  emblem  of 
God  himself,  dwelling  in  the  church  ;  a  holy  God, 
yet  not  consuming  a  sinful  people.  Yet  there 
seems  no  just  reason  why  these  interpretations  may 
not  be  combined.  It  is  true  that  God  dwells  in  the 
church;  and  even  the  afflictions  she  is  called  to 
bear  are  under  his  providence. 


112  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

In  the  Scriptures,  fire  is  soraetimes  an  emblem 
of  destruction,  and  sometimes  of  purification.  The 
difference  sometimes  pertains  to  the  qualities  of  the 
substance  subjected  to  the  action  of  fire.  Wood  it 
will  destroy,  silver  it  will  refine.  But  God  often 
appears  in  fire ;  as  to  Moses  at  the  giving  of  the 
law  ;  to  Isaiah  in  the  temple,  vi.  4 ;  to  Ezekiel  by 
the  river  Chebar,  i.  4 ;  and  Daniel  saw  a  fiery 
stream  flow  before  him,  vii.  10.  He  led  his  people 
in  the  wilderness  by  a  pillar  of  fire ;  the  baptism 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  called  a  baptism  of  fire.  Matt, 
iii.  11 ;  and  his  final  coming  to  judgment  shall  be 
revealed  in  fire.  The  holiness  of  God  is  fitly  rep- 
resented by  fire.  He  purifies  his  friends  as  the 
fire  purifies  silver ;  he  destroys  his  foes,  as  fire  con- 
sumes hay,  wood,  and  stubble  :  1  Cor.  iii.  12,  13. 
The  presence  of  God  in  the  church  is  as  fire,  that 
consumes  not  the  bush,  but  which  yet  kindles  upon 
and  burns  that  which  touches  the  burning  bush. 

And  there  is  a  close  connection  between  the  in- 
dwelling holiness  of  God,  in  his  church,  and  in 
every  individual  believer,  and  the  persecutions  and 
aflJictions  which  they  endure  from  a  hostile  world. 
The  holiness  of  God  demands  that  his  people 
should  also  become  holy ;  and  the  means  he  is 
pleased  to  use  to  secure  this  end  are  various.  Not 
by  direct  but  by  indirect  agencies  does  God  often 
work  in  promoting  his  purposes;  and  the  afflictions 
and  sorrows  whereunto  his  people  are  appointed, 
are  proof  of  his  holiness  as  truly  as  the  sanctifying 


THE    BURNING    BUSH,  113 

power  of  his  Spirit.  The  severity  of  affliction  to 
which  the  people  of  God  are  subjected,  is  fitly  set 
forth  by  the  emblem  of  fire.  No  agent  is  more 
searching  than  fire ;  no  trials  are  more  severe  than 
those  to  which  the  church  has  been  exposed.  It 
may  give  us,  on  the  one  hand,  a  serious  idea  of 
those  sins  and  earthly  defilements,  from  which  we 
cannot  easily  be  freed ;  and,  on  the  other,  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  God's  love  for  holiness,  that 
by  such  costly  methods  he  forms  a  people  fit  for 
his  service.  Trials  of  faith  in  the  hot  furnace  of 
affliction  are  much  more  precious  than  of  gold. 
The  white  robes  of  the  redeemed,  garments  of 
humility  and  love  and  holiness,  are  worn  by  those 
that  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation :  Rev. 
vii.  14. 

In  Egypt  the  church  burned  with  fire,  yet  not 
without  the  appointment  of  the  Lord,  and  not  w^ith- 
out  her  "needs  be,"  1  Pet.  i.  6,  in  the  Divine  dis- 
cerning. There  were  the  fires  of  temptation,  as 
the  pomp,  and  pleasures,  and  vices  of  idolatry  ad- 
dressed them ;  and  fires  of  persecution,  as  their 
oppressors  laid  heavy  burdens  upon  them,  and 
made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard  bondage. 

And  the  fire  burned  them.  When  we  read  of 
the  troubles  of  past  days,  we  are  not  to  think  that 
our  brethren,  who  endured  all  these  trials,  were 
Stoics.  They  were  "men  of  like  passions  with 
ourselves ;"  as  desirous  of  ease  and  pleasure,  as 
fearful  of  pain,  as  we.  When  the  fellow-sufferer 
10  * 


114  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

of  the  Mexican  prince,  Guatimozin,  cried  out  under 
the  anguish  of  his  tortures,  his  complaints  were 
silenced  by  the  invincible  fortitude  of  his  king: 
"Thinkest  thou  that  I  lie  on  a  bed  of  roses."* 
The  weary  years  passed  away  as  slowly,  the  nights 
of  suffering  were  as  long,  the  fear  of  death  was  as 
startling,  and  the  pains  of  the  stake  were  as  dread- 
ful, in  the  experience  of  the  innumerable  martyrs 
of  the  church,  as  like  things  would  be  now  to  any 
of  us.  Cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  bonds  and 
imprisonment,  dishonour  and  death  are  none  the 
less  severe  for  human  nature  to  bear,  because  the 
grace  of  God  refines  that  nature.  As  tender 
nerves  belong  to  a  believer  as  to  any  other  man;  as 
feeling  a  heart  beats  in  his  bosom ;  and,  if  principle 
permitted,  he  would  as  gladly  escape  trouble,  and 
do  as  much  to  avoid  shame  and  suffering,  as  any 
other  man.  Nor  does  piety  relieve  us  from  those 
natural  fears  and  apprehensions  under  which  its 
office  rather  is  to  sustain  us.  Doubtless  many  a 
time,  in  view  of  their  long  stay  in  Egypt,  and  the 
severity  of  their  oppressors,  the  sons  of  Jacob 
feared  that  they  should  never  go  forth  from  the 
land  of  bondage,  nor  inherit  the  promised  Canaan. 
God  never  meant  that  his  people  should  be  unfeel- 
ing in  the  trials  they  are  called  to  bear;  and  the 
fears  of  faith  are  not  regarded,  in  his  sight,  as  the 
failing  of  faith.  The  more  we  feel  and  fear,  while 
yet  we  rely  on  him  and  persevere  in  his  service, 
the  more  illustrious  is  faith's  triumph. 

*  Robertson's  America,  252. 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  115 

The  bush  burned,  but  did  not  burn  up.  The 
church,  in  the  fiercest  fires,  sufi"ers,  but  is  not  con- 
sumed. The  Apostle  says  of  himself,  that  he  was 
"troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed;  per- 
plexed, but  not  in  despair ;  persecuted,  but  not  for- 
saken; cast  down,  but  not  destroyed:"  2  Cor.  iv. 
8,  9.  How  many  have  been  the  fierce  trials  of  the 
church  of  God  in  the  past  ages  of  her  changing 
and  sorrowful  history.  "  Many  a  time  have  they  af- 
flicted me,  may  Israel  now  say, yet  they 

have  not  prevailed  against  me:"  Ps.  cxxix.  1,  2. 
Egypt  and  Assyria,  Babylon  and  Persia,  Rome 
Pagan  and  Rome  apostate  have  arrayed  themselves 
against  Zion;  her  sons  have  been  cast  into  the 
Nile,  scourged  by  task-masters,  scattered  abroad  to 
gather  stubble  for  undiminished  tasks;  they  have 
been  exiled  from  their  homes,  cast  into  the  burning 
furnace,  exposed  to  fierce  beasts  of  prey;  they  have 
been  imprisoned  by  Caesar  and  by  Pope,  massacred 
at  Rome  and  at  Paris,  burned  in  the  imperial  gar- 
dens, and  at  infamous  Autos-da-fe;  and  heretics 
within  and  infidels  without,  have  sought  by  every  con- 
ceivable method  to  attack  the  towers,  and  to  under- 
mine the  battlements  of  the  city  of  our  God.  And  we 
say  not  that  all  these  things  have  been  in  vain. 
Many  a  time  has  the  fierce  shout  of  victory  gone 
along  the  triumphing  lines  of  the  foe ;  and  many  a 
time  have  timid  soldiers  in  the  ranks  of  the  sacramen- 
tal host,  felt  serious  fears  that  all  was  lost.  But  the 
church  is  not  consumed.     She  has  never  even  been 


116  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ill  real  danger  of  it.  Let  faith  ever  triumph  over 
the  strongest  fears.  In  the  burning  bush  God 
dwells,  and  the  humble  abode  of  his  holiness  is 
unconsumed. 

Nor  have  the  people  of  God  ever  been  ignorant 
of  the  true  reason  why  the  church  has  been  uncon- 
sumed. As  for  the  sons  of  Zion,  they  have  often 
been  weak  and  in  perplexity,  and  apparently  with- 
out resources.  As  for  her  foes,  they  have  often 
been  strong  and  triumphant,  with  victory  just 
within  their  grasp.  How  near  were  the  calamities 
of  Israel  to  a  disastrous  issue,  when  the  little  ark 
of  bulrushes  was  tossed  upon  the  Nile;  when  the 
decree  of  Haman  went  forth  through  all  the  Per- 
sian empire;  and  when  the  German  emperor  thun- 
dered against  the  rising  Reformation.  But  the 
Red  Sea  song,  "The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  my 
salvation,"  has  not  only  filled  the  lips  of  God's  peo- 
ple in  the  time  of  an  unexpected  triumph,  but  has 
even  tuned  their  hearts  to  gladness  in  the  hour  of 
grief  and  darkness.  "It  is  said  of  Luther  that 
when  he  heard  any  discouraging  news,  he  would 
say.  Come,  let  us  sing  the  forty-sixth  Psalm."*  It 
is  a  song  for  trials.  "God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble."  It  ex- 
plains the  safety  of  Zion.  "  God  is  in  the  midst  of 
her,  she  shall  not  be  moved."  vs.  1,  4.  How 
plainly  can  we  see  in  this  that  God's  ways  and 
thoughts  are  not  as  ours.     The  slender  bush  seems 

*  Henry  in  loco. 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  117 

more  combustible  and  more  easily  destroyed  than 
if  it  had  been  a  stately  cedar.  Yet  it  is  not  con- 
sumed. For  many  reasons,  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  have  more  apparent  elements  of  power  and 
durability  than  the  church  of  God.  They  have 
wealth,  and  gather  more  around  them;  they  have 
strong  cities,  and  they  fortify  themselves  with  im- 
pregnable bulwarks;  they  have  armies,  and  they 
go  forth  to  conquer.  If  ancient  Babylon  possessed 
but  a  tithe  of  the  splendour  and  power  ascribed  to 
her,  we  need  not  wonder  at  the  pride  and  confi- 
dence of  the  great  king,  who  looked  around  upon 
the  evidences  of  his  majesty,  and  said,  "Is  not  this 
Babylon,  that  I  have  built?"  These  earthly  king- 
doms are  mighty ;  and  their  sons  grow  up  to  gather 
their  warm  affections  around  the  thrones  and  the 
fame  of  their  fathers.  But  the  church  of  God  is  a 
feeble  kingdom,  and  many  a  son  has  risen  up  to 
renounce  his  fa.ther's  faith,  and  to  prove  himself  a 
traitor  to  his  king,  and  an  apostate  from  his  God. 
Every  subject  of  the  kingdom  of  grace  must  be  re- 
newed from  nature;  and  thus  the  perpetuity  of  this 
kingdom  depends  upon  the  conversion  of  foes  to 
friends.  That  such  an  empire  as  the  church  of 
God  can  stand  through  so  long  ages,  against  so 
many  adverse  influences,  and  with  increasing 
power  as  time  grows  older,  is  the  greatest  of  God's 
wonders  shown  to  the  sons  of  men.  It  is  mani- 
festly his  wonderful  working.  Such  enemies  as 
the  church  has  known;    such   various   at;tacks   of 


118  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

fraud  and  force  and  cunning;  such  malice  and  per- 
tinacity of  opposition ;  such  alliances  from  opposite 
quarters,  no  kingdom  ever  before  withstood.  The 
weakest  empire,  judging  on  earthly  principles;  one 
that  receives,  but  inflicts  not  injury;  that  sheds 
her  own  blood,  not  that  of  her  foes;  and  that  an- 
swers the  curses  of  her  enemies  by  invoking  bless- 
ings upon  them,  is  the  most  ancient  and  permanent 
kingdom  in  the  world.  But  hers  is  imparted,  not 
inherent  strength.  One  Friend  dwells  in  Zion,  so 
mighty  to  save,  that  her  children  may  ever  say, 
with  a  prophet  of  their  own,  "They  that  be  with  us 
are  more  than  they  that  be  with  them,"  2  Kings, 
vi.  16.  The  plans  of  all  the  foes  of  Zion  are 
known  to  him;  for  all  their  cunning  his  wisdom  is 
an  overmatch;  from  all  'heir  power  his  single  arm 
can  deliver;  and  the  opportune  time  to  interfere  he 
chooses,  and  the  feeblest  instrumentality  he  can 
make  effectual  for  the  most  glorious  deliverance. 
Blessed  is  the  church  of  God !  blessed  every  mem- 
ber! for  the  bush  burning  with  fire  is  never  con- 
sumed; the  covenant  of  God  ever  stands  fast  with 
his  people.  Happy  is  the  man  upon  whom  comes 
the  blessing  long  after  this  pronounced  by  Moses 
upon  the  tribe  of  Joseph,  not  only  "for  the  pre- 
cious things  of  the  earth  and  the  fulness  thereof," 
but  "for  the  good- will  of  Him  who  dwelt  in  the 
bush,"  Deut.  xxxiii.  16. 

He,  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  that  burning  bush, 
was  the  great  revealer  of  the  Godhead,  known  to 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  119 

US,  in  his  incarnate  estate,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  called  "the  Angel  of  the  Lord;"  the  Angel- 
Jehovah  in  Hebrew;  mn^  "j^Sa;  and  yet  declares 
"I  am  the  God  of  thy  fathers."  This  Divine,  un- 
created Angel,  is  the  messenger  of  God,  in  whom 
was  the  Divine  name.  A  careful  comparison  of 
what  is  taught  us  in  both  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, will  show  that  only  the  Second  Person  of  the 
adorable  Trinity  has  made  known  God  to  man. 
This  the  Apostle  John  expressly  affirms,  and  fur- 
ther proof  of  it  will  lie  in  our  way  as  we  pass  fur- 
ther on  in  the  life  of  the  Jewish  Lawgiver,  John  i. 
18. 

In  arguing  with  the  Sadducees,  who  appear  to  have 
denied  both  the  resurrection  and  the  connected 
doctrine  of  the  future  life,  Acts  xxiii.  8:  Mark 
xii.  26,  our  blessed  Lord  refers  to  this  scene  of  the 
burning  bush;  corrects  their  crude  ideas  respecting 
the  social  condition  of  the  pious  dead;  and  argues 
for  the  future  existence  of  the  patriarchs,  from  the 
words  here  divinely  used  concerning  them.  Many 
years  after  the  death  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
God  says  not,  I  was  their  God,  but  I  am  their 
God.  The  argument  is,  "they  therefore  must  be 
living  men;  if  living,  it  must  be  as  disembodied 
spirits,  for  their  sepulchres  are  still  with  us ;  yet 
they  are  still  the  patriarchs."  This  simple  refuta- 
tion of  the  Sadducean  doctrine  respecting  separate 
spirits,  he  regards  as  drawing  -with  it  the  overthrow 
of  their  error  touching  the  resurrection.      The  per- 


120  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

sonal  existence  of  the  patriarchs  involves  the  res- 
urrection of  their  bodies. 

And  it  may  be  added  that  our  Lord's  method  of 
arguing  implies  the  most  entire  confidence  upon  his 
part  in  the  exact  correctness  of  the  very  words  of 
Moses.  An  argument  of  the  greatest  import  is 
made  to  hinge,  not  upon  a  series  of  statements,  or 
a  long  narrative,  whose  drift  cannot  be  mistaken, 
but  upon  a  simple  single  statement,  that  God  to 
Moses  declared  himself  the  God  of  patriarchs,  who 
had  already  passed  from  the  earth!  And,  hei*e 
and  elsewhere,  the  entire  influence  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  obviously  goes  to  uphold  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures  in  all  their  purity,  integrity,  au- 
thority and  excellence. 


THE  REVEALED  WILL  OF  GOD  DESIRABLE.      121 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  HEVEAZED  will  of  god  DESUtABZE. 

"  Sad  error  this,  to  take 
The  light  of  nature  rather  than  the  light 
Of  revelation  for  a  guide.     As  well 
Prefer  the  borrowed  light  of  earth's  pale  moon. 
Or  the  dim  twinkling  of  a  distant  star, 
To  the  effulgence  of  the  noonday  sun."  * 

The  evident  unwillingness  of  Moses  to  accept 
the  charge  now  urged  upon  him,  doubtless  sprang 
from  profound  views  of  his  own  insuflBciency.  In 
his  younger  days,  he  was  ready  to  take  upon  him 
the  office  of  a  prophet  of  God  and  the  deliverer  of 
Israel;  but  now  it  is  otherwise.  His  new  feelings 
sprang  partly  from  a  better  self-acquaintance,  ac- 
quired in  his  more  mature  experience,  and  partly 
from  that  deep  awe  and  reverence  that  is  always 
inspired  in  man  in  the  known  presence  of  God. 
And  nothing  is  more  proper  than  that  man  should 
feel  insignificant  and  unworthy  before  Him,  espe- 
cially when  sinful  man  comes  before  his  sinful  fellow- 
men  as  a  representative  of  the  Most  High  God, 
speaking  the  words  of  God,  and  with  authority  de- 
manding man's  obedience.     Who  is  sufficient  for 

Vol.  I.— 11 


122  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

this  thing?  It  becomes  the  wisest  and  most  gifted 
man  to  feel  his  weakness.  And  yet  to  go  forward, 
when  called  even  to  such  a  work,  is  every  man's 
duty.  As  it  is  not  by  his  own  power  or  holiness 
or  wisdom  that  he  does  or  speaks  such  great  things, 
he  may  be  humble  in  himself  as  an  instrument, 
and  yet  bold  in  God's  service. 

And  we  all  have  a  deep  interest  in  the  call  of 
Moses  as  the  prophet  of  the  living  God.  He  lived 
long  ago,  indeed,  but  he  speaks  to  us ;  and  there 
is  an  authority  in  his  commission  that  can  never  be 
lost,  so  long  as  man  shall  live  upon  the  earth. 
That  Moses  did  things  and  said  things  chiefly  af- 
fecting his  own  generation  and  his  own  tribes,  may 
be  true  enough;  he  said  other  things  of  permanent 
value.  Especially  let  us  notice  this  ;  that  Moses 
stands  the  first,  in  the  order  of  time,  in  the  succes- 
sion of  inspired  prophets,  whom  God  has  sent  to 
instruct  the  sons  of  men.  Even  if  other  prophets 
were  sent  before  Moses,  which  indeed  is  true,  yet 
all  we  know  of  them  we  learn  through  him.  Moses 
gives  to  man  the  first  written  pages  of  revelation. 
Revelation  itself  dates  back  to  the  origin  of  our 
race ;  but  alas !  twice  already,  before  the  days  of 
Moses,  had  degenerate  man  nearly  lost  the  knowl- 
edge and  worship  of  the  true  God.  This  is  the  true 
reason  why  the  revelations  made  through  Moses 
were  communicated  to  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
human  family.  Men  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge.      Men   have  thought   that  they 


THE  REVEALED  WILL  OF  GOD  DESIRABLE.      123 

could  learn  of  God  all  they  need  to  know,  without 
any  revelation  of  his  will ;  and  even  after  long  and 
costly  experience,  there  are  still  men  who  stand 
forth  and  refuse  to  believe  that  it  is  either  possible, 
desirable,  or  necessary,  that  God  should  reveal  his 
will  to  man.  To  us,  Moses  is  the  first  inspired 
writer,  and  as  he  is  here  first  introduced  to  us,  as  an 
authorized  prophet  of  God,  it  may  be  well  for  us  to 
occupy  our  thoughts  upon  the  commission  thus 
given  him.  God  begins  in  him  that  written  record 
of  his  will,  which  was  not  complete  until  long  after- 
wards, when  his  own  Son  appeared  in  human  flesh. 
Some  of  the  evidences  of  the  divine  commission  of 
Moses  will  be  brought  forward  hereafter.  Now  we 
will  consider  the  desirableness  and  reasonableness 
of  a  divine  revelation  of  God  to  man  ;  from  which, 
in  the  next  chapter,  we  will  pass  to  speak  of  things 
which  prove  its  necessity. 

That  a  revelation  from  God  to  man  is  impossible, 
no  reasoning  of  ours  is  competent  to  decide.  Crea- 
tures who  are  incapable  of  comprehending  the  in- 
finite God,  are  not  able  to  decide  what  he  can  or 
cannot  do.  Rather,  if  he  desires  our  worship,  it  is 
natural  to  think  that  he  will  instruct  us  sufficiently 
for  intelligent  worship. 

And  from  the  nature  of  man  and  the  importance 
of  the  relations  we  sustain  to  God,  such  teachings 
from  God  are  exceedingly  desirable.  Our  condi- 
tion in  life  makes  us  all  dependent ;  and  it  is  im- 
possible for  man  to  rise  above  the  influence,  we  may 


124  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

even  say  the  guidance  of  other  minds.  Look  at 
man  in  the  earliest  stages  of  his  being.  Why  is  he 
so  long  in  reaching  that  maturity  of  mind  and  body 
that  can  measurably  free  him  from  a  helpless  de- 
pendence ?  No  earthly  being  is  more  dependent, 
or  longer  dependent  than  man.  No  creature  needs 
instruction  more,  or  is  so  much  influenced  by  it. 
Hence  every  child  places  an  almost  unbounded 
confidence  in  the  teachings  of  others,  and,  in  the 
early  periods  of  life,  we  receive  our  ideas  less  from 
reflection  than  from  instruction.  To  leave  a  child 
to  himself  to  form  his  own  ideas,  untaught  by  the 
wisdom  of  others,  is  to  allow  him  to  grow  up  igno- 
rant and  uncultivated. 

Men  are  usually  what  their  education  makes 
them.  The  child  of  a  Pagan  becomes  a  heathen ; 
the  child  of  a  Mahommedan  becomes  a  Moslem; 
and  infidel  pride  and  false  philosophy  point  to 
this  as  the  triumphant  proof  that  all  religion  is  a 
mere  matter  of  training.  But  the  triumph  is  too 
soon,  and  the  inference  drawn  is  false.  The  fact 
is  a  proof  of  the  importance  of  education;  but  it  is 
a  clear  disproof  of  the  infidel  claim  that  human 
reason  is  a  sufiicient  guide  to  the  worship  of  God. 
If  education  and  reason  are  diff"erent  things,  then 
men  never  have  been  guided  by  their  reason ;  and 
indeed,  men  are  ever,  for  the  first  twenty  years  of 
life,  placed  in  circumstances  where  they  necessarily 
depend  upon  others  to  guide  their  feeble  judg- 
ment, and  to  teach  them  truth.     And  those  ear- 


THE  REVEALED  WILL  OF  GOD  DESIRABLE.      125 

liest  twenty  years  of  life  usually  exercise  a  con- 
trolling influence,  and  determine  the  character 
of  the  man.  The  fair  inference  therefore  is,  man 
needs  a  guide  to  teach  him  the  way  of  right;  and 
if  he  has  a  guide  at  all,  let  it  be  a  sure  and  a  good 
one. 

Of  course  every  man  must  use  his  own  faculties 
in  order  to  live  aright,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
we  must  address  ourselves  to  our  most  important 
duties  in  the  use  of  our  unaided  faculties.  Let  us 
consider  the  case  of  a  serious  man  in  the  very  im- 
portant social  position  upon  which  so  much  hinges 
the  welfare  of  human  society.  Here  is  a  youthful 
parent,  the  guardian  of  a  rising  family.  He  has 
important  and  serious  duties  to  discharge  towards 
his  children.  Much  of  his  time  is  necessarily  occu- 
pied by  busy  efforts  to  make  comfortable  provision 
to  clothe  and  feed  and  educate  them.  But  duty 
will  not  allow  him  to  neglect  their  moral  training. 
And  their  immortality,  if  even  only  possible,  much 
more  if  likely  or  certain,  increases  the  parent's 
responsibility.  He  is  their  natural  instructor. 
Guide  them  he  must ;  for  in  a  soil  so  fertile  as  the 
human  heart,  the  wheat  must  be  scattered  by  a 
good  hand,  or  the  tares  will  be  broadcast  by  an 
evil  one;  and  that  which  preoccupies  is  likely  to 
hold  the  field  in  perpetuity.  Neglect  of  duty  to 
them  is  culpable  misconduct,  and  may  be  irrepara- 
ble mischief.  Now  no  parent  puts  too  high  a  value 
upon  the  office  he  holds,  or  upon  the  care  he  should 
11  * 


126  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

exercise  towards  his  children.  They  have  within 
them  tendencies  to  evil,  he  can  easily  discover,  and 
they  are  going  forward  into  a  world  of  snares  and 
temptations  and  corruptions.  And  a  wise  parent 
would  much  prefer  to  see  any  child  he  has,  laid  in 
an  early  grave,  by  the  most  afflicting  calamity  that 
can  rend  with  agony  a  parent's  heart,  than  to  see 
him  live  as  some  men  live  in  the  world.  Every  pa- 
rental heart  fears  for  the  influence  of  the  world 
upon  his  children,  and  wishes  the  strongest  influ- 
ences of  education  and  companionship  and  moral 
principles  thrown  around  them. 

And  yet  how  little  time  he  has,  and  how  poor 
qualifications,  for  the  proper  discharge  of  duties 
upon  which  so  much  is  dependent !  Many  a  par- 
ent may  reflect  thus  with  himself:  ^'Am  I  capable 
of  guiding  my  immortal  children,  and  can  I  feel 
that  I  have  discharged  my  duty  towards  them  ? 
I  see  other  men  apparently  well  satisfied  with  the 
efforts  they  have  made,  but  I  see  their  defects. 
Perhaps  I  am  as  self-ignorant  as  they.  In  my  past 
life,  I  see  many  errors  ;  in  my  present  views  there 
may  be  many  more ;  the  sincere  inculcating  of  my 
sentiments  may  be  the  perpetuating  of  wrong. 
How  can  I  avoid  it?  I  am  incapable  of  examining 
every  subject  thoroughly.  I  have  neither  time 
nor  capacity.  I  am  a  helpless  and  miserable  being, 
if  every  thing  done  for  my  children  must  depend 
upon  my  thorough  investigation  of  principles,  my 
accurate  and  certain   knowledge  of  facts,  my  ac- 


THE  REVEALED  WILL  OF  GOD  DESIRABLE.      127 

quaintance  with  the  connections  and  tendency  of 
every  influence.  If  my  child  takes  sick,  I  know 
little  of  diseases,  and  less  of  medicines,  and  I 
must  trust  his  life  to  another  man's  wisdom.  If 
my  property  is  exposed  to  improper  encroach- 
ments, and  the  living  of  my  household  is  about 
to  be  swept  away,  I  must  seek  the  aid  of  an 
attorney,  who  knows  more  of  the  law  than  I  do. 
If  I  start  on  a  journey,  I  put  my  life  under  the 
care  of  men  I  never  saw ;  and  one  foolish  or 
wicked  act  may  hurry  me  from  existence.  Thus 
I  am  on  every  hand  dependent,  and  every  day, 
and  almost  every  movement  of  life  proves  it.  But 
in  the  far  more  important  matter  of  religion  for 
myself  and  children,  I  am  quite  as  dependent 
as  elsewhere.  The  most  important  questions  I 
am  wholly  incompetent  to  solve  for  them  or  for 
myself.  I  need  a  guide  ;  and  in  this  most  impor- 
tant of  all  matters,  give  me  not  a  human  and 
erring  teacher,  but  a  divine  and  infallible  one. 
Give  me  an  instructor  that  shall  leave  me  subject 
only  to  the  liabilities  of  error  that  necessarily 
attend  a  finite  mind  in  its  best  advantages.  Al- 
low me  to  point  my  children  to  a  guide  that 
never  errs.  As  error  tends  to  grow  worse ;  as 
the  follies  of  the  parent  are  copied  rather  than 
his  virtues ;  give  me  a  volume  whose  teachings 
may  be  safely  followed.  As  for  myself,  I  am 
weak,  and  always  have  been ;  ignorant,  and  al- 
ways  expect  to  be ;    liable   to   be  imposed  upon 


128  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

and  surrounded  by  many  disposed  to  practise 
deceitful  arts  upon  me.  Surely  for  me  and  for 
my  household,  and  for  every  man,  a  volume  of 
Divine  Revelation  to  guide  me  to  the  knowledge 
of  truth  and  God,  is  exceedingly  desirable." 


A    REVELATION    NECESSARY.  129 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  JREVELATION  NJECESSAJIT. 

"  Revealed  religion  first  informed  thy  sight, 
And  Reason  clearly  sees  what  Faith  unfolds : 
'Tis  Revelation,  what  thou  thinkest  discourse, 
Else  why  so  clear  these  truths  before  thy  mind, 
To  heathen  sages  hidden  or  obscure  ?" 

It  seems  a  very  strange  thing  that  man  should 
need  any  proof  that  a  revelation  of  God's  will  to 
us  is  desirable  or  necessary.  Yet  so  great  is  the 
estrangement  of  our  corrupt  nature  from  God,  that 
the  accumulated  evidences  of  ages  are  overlooked, 
and  men  of  our  times  grope  after  God  as  blindly 
and  as  vainly  in  Christian  lands,  as  ever  did  the 
heathen  in  lands  of  darkness.  Surely  we  can 
explain  this  mystery  only  by  the  Apostle's  solution, 
given  so  long  since,  "  They  do  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge."  Rom.  i.  28.  When  we 
see  men  in  Christian  lands,  scorning  the  light  of 
God's  holy  word,  and  eagerly  pursuing  the  ignes 
fatuos  that  are  ever  rising  and  ever  disappearing  in 
the  corrupt  marshes  around  us  ;  when  we  see,  also, 
that  corruption  and  licentiousness  are  the  almost 
invariable  characteristics  of  these  things,  it  seems 


130  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

full  proof  that  not  reason,  but  depravity  of  heart, 
is  the  ruling  power  to  lead  these  men  so  far  astray. 
The  short-lived  existence  and  the  miserable  ten- 
dencies of  these  human  devices  to  supplant  the 
simple  religion  of  the  Scriptures,  ought  to  warn 
every  man  of  the  flattering  deceits  by  which  so 
many  men  have  been  deluded. 

Yet  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  in  a  Christian 
land  the  errors  of  men  are  incorporated  with  so 
many  borrowed  or  stolen  truths,  and  wear  such 
forms  of  plausible  deceit,  that  the  simplest  proofs 
of  man's  ignorance,  uninstructed  of  God,  are  not  so 
apparent.  Our  ideas  are  necessarily  coloured  by 
our  circumstances.  No  man  can  be  educated  in  all 
the  views  and  thoughts  and  practices  of  a  civilized 
community,  and  then,  by  any  exercise  of  the  mind 
or  will,  transfer  himself  to  the  state  of  a  savage. 
He  may  go  and  live,  if  a  depraved  taste  so  inclines 
him,  among  barbarous  tribes,  and  adopt  their  ways 
and  habits  ;  but  he  must  know  things  they  do  not, 
and  he  must  have  powers  of  thought,  which,  per- 
haps, he  cannot  attribute  to  any  special  teacher, 
but  which  he  never  would  have  possessed,  had  his 
early  training  been  among  the  savages.  Take  an 
intelligent  man  from  the  United  States,  who  never 
learned  a  single  branch  of  mechanical  business, 
and  who  among  us  would  make  a  miserable  me- 
chanic, place  him  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  and  sur- 
round him  by  a  horde  of  barbarians:  he  would  know 
far  more  of  what  human  skill  could  do,  and  have  a 


A    REVELATION    XECESSAJRY.  131 

better  idea  of  the  methods  of  working  to  secure  the 
happiest  results  of  human  skill,  than  any  man 
among  them.  For  ideas  are  like  seeds,  they  are 
scattered  by  every  means.  Some  are  planted  by 
human  hands,  and  with  great  care ;  some  are 
dropped  without  special  design ;  some  are  fur- 
nished with  light  wings,  to  be  wafted  by  the  winds. 
And,  like  seeds,  these  thoughts  spring  up  unob- 
served ;  we  cannot  trace  their  origin  or  growth ; 
and  favouring  circumstances  only  are  needed  to 
bring  forth  mature  fruit  from  seeds  that  have  been 
cast  into  the  soil,  we  know  not  when  or  how.  And 
as  no  man  can  possibly  be  a  barbarian,  who  was 
born  and  trained  among  a  civilized  people,  so  no 
man  can  be  a  heathen  in  religious  knowledge,  who 
has  all  his  life  held  intercourse,  however  slight  and 
casual,  with  Christians.  Even  the  infidelity  of 
Christian  lands  owes  much  to  the  Bible ;  and  this 
not  only  beyond  the  acknowledgments,  but  beyond 
the  thoughts  of  its  votaries.  Men  steal  light  from 
the  Bible  to  prove  that  they  do  not  need  the 
Bible. 

The  clearest  proof  that  man  needs  a  revelation 
from  God  should  be  shown  from  the  actual  history 
of  man  as  he  has  lived  without  one.  After  twice 
making  known  his  will  to  the  human  race, — first 
through  Adam  and  then  through  Noah, — the  Su- 
preme Ruler,  in  wisdom,  as  the  Apostle  assures  us, 
1  Cor.  i.  21,  resolved  to  leave  men  to  their  own 
way,  to  prove  by  awful  experiment,  that  the  un- 


132  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

aided  wisdom  of  man  could  not  find  out  God. 
When  Moses  came  as  a  prophet  from  Jehovah,  his 
mission  was  specially  directed  to  the  Jews,  not 
exclusively,  but  conservatively,  with  the  ultimate 
design,  expressed  repeatedly  in  his  own  writings, 
that  all  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed. 
Gen.  xii.  3,  xviii.  18,  xxii.  18,  and  that  the  earth 
should  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  and  glory  of 
God,  Numb.  xiv.  21.  If,  then,  we  desire  to  see 
how  much  man  needs  such  teachings,  we  may  look 
at  the  nations  that  for  so  many  ages  wandered 
away  from  God,  and  fashioned  gods,  religion,  and 
morals  to  themselves  after  the  imaginations  of 
their  own  hearts. 

The  dark  history  of  the  human  race  where  Moses 
and  the  succeeding  prophets,  in  the  line  where  he 
is  first,  have  nQj:  been  read,  afibrds  serious  proof 
of  the  need  in  which  men  have  stood  of.  a  revela- 
tion from  God.  Sometimes  we  hear  dolorous  com- 
plaints from  the  wise  men  of  Pagan  lands,  who  see 
enough  to  know  their  lamentable  ignorance.  For 
Pythagoras  declares  man's  need  of  divine  interpo- 
sition to  teach  him  his  duty.*  Cicero  confessed 
that  no  excellence  can  exist  without  celestial  inspi- 
ration. Hierocles  and  Seneca  tell  us  that  no  man 
can  become  good  without  the  help  of  God.  Socra- 
tes deplored  the  want  of  a  superior  direction  ;t 
and  Plato  admitted  that  many  truths  are  beyond 

*  Leland's  Deist.  Writers,  i.  18.      f  Plato  in  Alcibiad.,  II.  xii-xxiii. 
Leland,  Ihid.     Jamblichus  in  Vit.  Pyth.,  28. 


A    REVELATION    NECESSARY.  133 

the  reach  of  experience,  and  must  be  derived  from 
God.*  And  the  entire  race  testified  to  the  same 
necessity,  even  in  that  very  perverseness,  which, 
wandering  from  the  true  God,  yet  received  the  pro- 
fessed teachings  of  divinity  in  false  and  inferior 
forms. 

But  the  state  of  the  heathen  world  of  all  ages 
and  lands  is  the  proof  at  once  that  man  needs  a 
revelation,  and  that  the  revelation  given  us  in  the 
line  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  from  Moses  on  Sinai, 
to  John  in  Patmos,  is  the  divine  original.  The 
degrading  ideas  of  Pagan  men  respecting  religion 
and  morals  ;  the  myriads  of  gods  they  worshipped  ; 
the  inferior  and  the  debasing  characters  assigned 
to  these  gods ;  the  rites  by  which  they  served 
them  ;  and  the  history  they  ascribed  to  them,  are 
all  proofs  of  their  need  of  a  divine  instructor. 
Nor  is  only  the  moral  character  of  heathenism  to 
be  taken  into  the  account,  when  we  say  that  by 
the  wickedness  of  man  is  the  necessity  for  divine 
teachings  proved.  Man,  we  acknowledge,  is  wicked 
in  all  ages,  nations,  and  places;  and  beneath  the 
shadow  of  Christian  sanctuaries  are  dens  of  dark 
pollution,  and  men  of  gross  wickedness,  whos^ 
deeds  of  shame  may  not  be  mentioned.  Yet  the 
moral  and  social  condition  of  Pagan  lands  is  im- 
measurably worse  than  can  be  found  in  any  Christian 
land,  and  especially  in  one  where  the  Bible  is 
really  read.    *But  the  most  marked  and  important 

*  Schools  of  Ancient  Philosophy,  pp.  7,  130. 
12 


134  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

difference  between  Christian  and  Pagan  lands  lies 
in  this,  that  there  many  crimes  are  justified  and 
even  enjoined,  and  here  every  crime  is  in  defiance 
both  of  law  and  of  public  sentiment.  In  the  open 
day,  and  glorying  in  their  deeds,  the  mother  has 
sacrificed  her  child's  life,  and  the  widow  her  own; 
the  warrior  drinks  the  blood  of  his  fallen  foe;  the 
devotee  inflicts  upon  himself  agonizing  and  pro- 
tracted tortures;  and  poor  human  reason  is  not 
even  capable  of  throwing  off"  these  things  as  dis- 
pleasing to  God. 

Those  who  dwell  among  the  heathen  of  modern 
times,  declare  solemnly  that  the  pictures  so  often 
drawn  of  ancient  morals,  are  just  as  true  of  these 
communities  now.  How  often  has  it  been  repeated 
that  the  awful  words  of  Paul,  in  the  close  of  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  only 
too  truly  describe  the  Pagan  world  as  it  yet  is.  It 
is  not  in  the  power  of  human  wisdom,  in  its  highest 
forms  ;  it  is  not  within  the  compass  of  philosophy 
or  civilization  to  lift  man  above  the  grossest  cor- 
ruption. A  few  statements  of  the  ancient  morals 
may  show  us  plainly  man's  need  of  divine  teach- 
ings. Livy  wrote  of  Rome,  in  his  times,  that  mor- 
als had  so  degenerated  that  "  We  can  neither  en- 
dure our  vices,  nor  their  remedies."*  Juvenal  is 
famous  for  his  ridicule  of  Roman  profligacy ;  and 
Suetonius  could  not  write  the  lives  of  the  Emperors 
without  giving  such  notices  of  their  private  charac- 

*  Livy,  Hist,  liber  i.  prefatio. 


A    REVELATION    NECESSARY.  135 

ters  as  could  scarcely  be  tolerated  in  any  modern 
writer.  But  let  us  not  speak  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, or  of  the  profligate  rulers.  The  character  of 
the  philosophers  and  teachers  of  youth  may  give 
us  a  better  idea  of  the  state  of  morals  in  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome.  Quintilian  declares  that  under 
the  name  of  philosophy  the  most  notorious  vices 
were  screened. "^^  Cicero  declares  that  the  ancient 
philosophers  never  reformed  either  themselves  or 
their  disciples ;  and  that  he  knew  not  a  single  in- 
stance in  which  the  teacher  or  the  disciple  was  made 
virtuous  by  their  principles.  Lucian  declares  that  as 
a  body  they  were  tyrants,  adulterers,  and  corrupt- 
ers of  youth. f  If  we  take  up  these  philosophers 
by  name,  the  case  is  not  altered.  Seneca  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  purest  moralists  of  Rome, 
and  wrote  thus:  "Vice  no  longer  conceals  itself; 
it  stalks  abroad  before  all  eyes.  So  public  is 
profligacy  .  .  that  innocence  has  wholly  ceased  to 
exist. "I  Yet  Seneca  was  the  teacher  of  the  infa- 
mous Nero,  became  the  tool  of  his  vices,  and  pub- 
licly apologized  for  the  act  of  that  tyrant  in  mur- 
dering his  mother.  Diogenes  and  Crates  were 
unblushing  in  their  lewdness ;  and  more  than  this 
might  be  charged  on  Aristippus,  Xenophon,  and 
many  other  eminent  philosophers.  Cicero  taught 
that  lewdness  was  a  crime  of  small  magnitude,  and 
Plato  and  Zeno  justified  it,  the  latter  adding  the 

*  Instit.  Orat.  Proem,,  §  15.         f  Dwight's  Sermons,  i.  330. 
X  De  Ira,  ii.  g  8. 


136  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

doctrine  that  all  crimes  are  equal.*  Senecaf  and 
Plinyl  argued  in  favour  of  suicide,  and  many  emi- 
nent men  gave  it  the  sanction  of  their  own  exam- 
ple. Many  of  their  moralists  taught  that  lying 
was  often  profitable ;  and  the  murder  of  their  own 
offspring  was  regulated  by  the  laws  of  Romulus, 
and  approved  as  a  prevalent  practice  by  Plutarch 
and  Seneca. § 

But  let  us  say  no  more  of  the  state  of  mor- 
als in  these  ages  and  lands,  though  what  has  just 
been  said  is  but  an  inadequate  representation  of 
what  the  human  race  has  been  in  all  lands  and 
ages,  without  the  revealed  will  of  God.  Let  us 
notice  some  of  their  crude  ideas  respecting  reli- 
gion and  its  special  teachings.  And  when  we 
find  them  knowing  nothing  of  the  true  God,  or 
of  their  own  dignity  as  called  to  his  service, 
we  can  scarcely  wonder  at  their  wide  wanderings 
into  theoretical  and  practical  immorality. 

Of  God  they  knew  nothing.  In  their  conjec- 
tures they  sometimes  made  remarkable  expressions; 
like  that  which  Paul  quotes  from  a  heathen  poet: 
''We  are  also  his  offspring."  But  Paul's  infer- 
ence that  God's  offspring  should  not  liken  their  Ma- 
ker to  wood  or  brass  or  stone,  the  poet  never  drew. 
Even  if  some  of  the  Greek  philosophers  travelled 
into  Judea,  and  there  gained  some  knowledge  of 
the  teachings  of  Moses,  the  ideas  thus  gained  had 

*  Dwight's  Sermons,  i.  333.  f  De  Ira,  iii.  c.  16. 

X  Quoted  M'Cosh's  Div.  Gov.  68.  §  Home's  Introd.  i.  19. 


A    REVELATION    NECESSARY.  137 

no  further  influence  than  to  give  turn  to  a  few  ex- 
pressions, that  have  excited  surprise  and  secured 
attention,  like  a  grain  of  gold  in  a  clod  of  clay, 
from  their  superior  excellence  to  all  else  they 
knew.  "According  to  Themistius  there  were  more 
than  three  hundred  sects  of  the  western  philoso- 
phers, difi"ering  greatly  on  subjects  of  high  impor- 
tance. According  to  Varro  there  were  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight  difierent  opinions  entertained 
by  them,  concerning  the  summum  honum,  or  chief 
good ;  and  three  hundred  opinions  concerning  God, 
or,  as  Varro  himself  declares,  three  hundred  Jupi- 
ters,  or  supreme  deities.  Critias,  Theodotus,  Di- 
agoras,  the  Pyrrhonists,  New  Academics  and  Epi- 
cureans, were  generally  either  Skeptics  or  Athe- 
ists.""^ That  God  was  fire,  or  water,  or  matter, 
or  the  soul  of  the  world,  were  among  their  various 
beliefs. t  Aristotle  questioned  the  creation  of  the 
world  ;J  Democritus  thought  the  universe  was 
formed  by  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  ;  and  a 
like  opinion  characterized  the  Epicureans.  The 
immortality  of  the  soul  of  man  was  not  reckoned 
among  the  principles  of  the  Stoics.  Aristotle  and 
the  Peripatetic  school  seem  not  to  have  believed 
it.  Plato  and  Cicero  argued  for  it,  but  with 
such  wavering  thoughts  that  Seneca  says  that 
"immortality,  however  desirable,  was  rather ^rom- 

*  Dwight's  Serin,  i.  319.  f  Cudworth. 

X  See  the  Summary  in  Cicero's  Tuse.  Quest.   Lib.,  i.  chs.  ix — 
xi. 

12  * 


138  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ised  than  proved  by  these  great  men."*  How 
lamentable  seem  the  words  of  Cicero,  after  giving 
the  thoughts  of  many  philosophers:  "Which  of 
these  is  true,  God  alone  knows;  and  which  is 
most  probable,  is  a  great  question. "f  How  much 
more  deplorable  seem  the  dying  words  of  Socrates 
to  his  friends :  "  I  am  going  out  of  the  world, 
and  you  are  to  continue  in  it ;  but  which  of  us 
has  the  better  part,  is  unknown  to  all,  except  to 
God."t 

But  what  was  the  condition  of  that  part  of  the 
heathen  world  in  which  Moses  had  his  education  ? 
Could  he  have  been  furnished  in  Egypt  with  any 
of  those  remarkable  thoughts  which  have  given 
him  his  reputation  as  a  prophet  of  the  only  true 
God  ?  It  has  been  alleged  by  some  that  many 
Mosaic  laws  can  be  recognized  as  previously  exist- 
ing among  the  Egyptian  people.  If  even  this  is 
true  to  a  much  larger  extent  than  can  be  shown,  it 
would  not  be  derogatory  to  his  claims  as  a  prophet. 
We  need  not  believe  that  the  Egyptians  had  no 
remains  whatever  of  the  true  religion,  as  Noah 
gave  it  to  all  his  sons ;  and  if  Moses  embodied  in 
his  laws  and  teachings  every  fragment  of  truth, 
the  proof  of  his  commission  would  lie  in  the  unerr- 
ing discernment  that  gathered  the  pure  and  rejected 

*  Seneca  Ep.  102.     See  also  117. 

■f-  Cicero's  Tusc.  Ques.,  Lib.  i.  c.  xi.  §  23.  But  see  De  Amic,  c. 
iii.,  and  De  Senectut.,  c.  xxi. 

J  Plato  Apologia  Socr.,  xxxiii.,  in  fine. 


A   REVELATION   NECESSARY.  139 

the  vile.  Surely  the  resemblances  to  Egyptian 
worship  that  may  be  gathered  from  the  teachings 
of  the  Jewish  lawgiver,  are  far  less  striking  and 
important  than  the  contrasts  that  are  palpable. 
Ancient  and  modern  writers  have  earnestly  con- 
tended that  Greece  received  her  religion  from 
Egypt.*  We  know  that  the  Egyptian  worship 
was  so  debased  as  to  call  forth  the  ridicule  of 
the  Romans;  and  of  all  these  degrading  things, 
Moses  has  not  copied  one.  The  Israelitish  people 
were  constantly  prone  to  copy  their  idolatry ;  but 
Moses  and  their  early  and  later  prophets  protest 
against  this  as  constantly. 

It  is  said  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  knew  that 
God  was  one.  But  certainly  they  did  not  mean 
one  as  Moses  taught,  to  the  exclusion  of  religious 
honour  to  any  other.  The  Egyptians  worshipped 
the  bull  Apis,  the  crocodile,  the  ibis,  serpents,  and 
other  animals,  and  the  leeks  and  onions  of  their 
gardens.  So  the  Roman  satirist  declares  that 
among  them  "whole  towns  worshipped  a  dog;  it 
was  a  sin  to  sink  your  teeth  into  an  onion ;  and 
every  garden  was  overrun  with  gods."t  When  a 
dog  died  the  whole  household  fasted  and  went  into 
mourning;    and  not  even  the   authority   of  their 

^■Warburton  Div.  Leg.  Moses,  ii.  260.  See  also  the  jEgyptiaca 
of  Witsius.  For  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  some  of  the  most 
profound  investigators  of  theological  questions,  make  the  Hebrew 
teachings  the  sources  of  even  the  elder  Pagan  ideas.  See  Shedd's 
Chn.  Doctr.,  i.  205  and  notes. 

f  Juvenal,  Sat.  xv.  8-12. 


140  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Roman  conquerors  was  able  to  save  the  life  of  a 
soldier  who  had  accidentally  killed  a  cat. 

But  let  us  not  enlarge  on  these  statements.  If 
on  the  one  hand  the  dark  picture  of  human  igno- 
rance, superstition,  and  vice,  shows  man's  need  of 
divine  teachings,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  the  excel- 
lence of  the  things  taught  by  Moses,  and  by  the 
entire  line  of  Jewish  teachers  succeeding  him, 
gives  proof  that  the  wisdom  by  which  he  spoke  was 
not  of  man.  Nor  is  it  any  plea  against  his  divine 
authority  that  his  teachings  were  not  received  by 
his  own  people  according  to  their  real  value.  For, 
in  one  sense,  this  only  shows,  with  the  greater 
clearness,  the  excellency  of  Moses,  that  he  rose  so 
eminent  above  his  own  age  and  people.  And  it  is 
plain  that  all  divine  instructions  are  so  given  to 
man  as  to  give  full  room  for  the  exercise  of  free 
moral  agency.  Let  the  teachings  and  advantages 
of  men  be  what  they  may,  if  they  do  not  like 
to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  he  may  give 
them  up  to  believe  the  grossest  falsehoods ;  Rom. 
i.  21,  seq. 

And  for  this  reason  it  is  that  we  may  review 
the  necessities  of  men  for  a  revelation  from  God, 
as  these  appear  in  the  fearful  experiment  that 
for  so  many  ages  left  the  nations  to  wander 
in  darkness.  There  is  as  little  danger  that  in 
our  land  and  generation  the  evils  of  Paganism 
should  come  in  upon  us,  as  that  the  praises  some- 
times bestowed  by  vain  philosophy  upon  a  savage 


A    REVELATION    NECESSARY.  141 

life,  should  turn  us  all  into  barbarians.  But 
when  we  do  not  know  how  much  we  owe  to 
the  revealed  truth  of  God,  we  do  not  appreciate  it. 
And  many  now  are  willing  to  cull  out  some  of 
the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures,  who  yet  refuse 
to  take  them  as  the  guide  in  piety  and  duty.  The 
corruptions  of  our  times  are  more  plausible  in  their 
advances,  and  make  high  professions  of  superior 
knowledge ;  but  they  are  as  really  a  departure 
from  God  as  ever  were  idolatry  and  Paganism. 
Thus  we  may  easily  know  that  man  needs  a  guide 
AS  MAN,  without  regard  to  his  rank,  age,  times, 
or  learning.  ''  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not 
God,"  and  the  most  gifted  intellects  of  the  world 
have  been  fools  in  the  most  important,  and,  as 
revealed,  the  plainest  of  all  subjects.  Think  of 
modern  spiritualism  ranking  among  its  votaries 
some  of  the  strong  minds  of  an  age  like  this, 
and  they,  still  blinded,  though  its  manifest  and 
growing  tendencies  are  to  faith  in  the  grossest 
absurdities,  leading  on  to  the  practice  of  the  most 
vile  and  polluting  abominations !  In  our  own 
age,  and  surrounded  by  the  light  of  our  own 
civilization,  there  are  no  greater  fools  in  religion 
than  those  who  claim  to  be  the  wise  men  of  earth; 
and  deism,  rationalism,  pantheism,  materialism, 
and  skepticism  have,  within  the  past  century, 
succeeded  each  other  so  rapidly,  have  each  made 
so  high  claims,  to  be  ridiculed  by  their  respective 
successors,  have  shown  for  how  brief  a  time,  and 


142  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

in  how  narrow  a  sphere  the  wisdom  of  man  can 
make  a  falsehood  current,  and  have  so  proved 
but  the  gropings  of  human  blindness;  that  they 
demonstrate  this  much,  if  nothing  more,  man 
needs  a  guide  to  lead  him  to  his  God. 


ARE    MIRACLES    CREDIBLE?  143 


CHAPTER  Xlli. 

AHE  MUtACLES  CMEDIBZE? 

"  What  less  than  miracles  from  God  can  flow  ? 
Admit  a  God — that  mystery  Supreme  ! 
That  cause  uncaused!  all  other  wonders  cease; 
Nothing  is  marvellous  for  Him  to  do ; 
Deny  him — all  is  mystery  besides."  Young. 

That  Aaron  is  sent  forth  to  meet  his  brother, 
and  to  welcome  his  return  to  Egypt,  seems  to  prove 
two  things.  1st.  That  the  brothers  were  well 
acquainted  with  each  other.  It  is  likely  that 
Moses,  from  his  childhood,  up  to  the  period  of  his 
leaving  Egypt,  had  been  familiar  in  his  father's 
house.  The  Egyptians  would  regard  this  but  as 
affection  for  his  nurse,  while  he  hknself  would 
understand  his  true  relation  to  this  humble  family. 
There  may  also  have  been  a  measure  of  intercourse 
between  them  during  the  forty  intervening  years. 
The  opportunities  of  the  age  were  imperfect,  but 
still  they  may  have  kept  up  some  knowledge  of 
each  other.  And,  2d.  That,  simultaneously  with 
the  call  of  Moses,  in  Midian,  to  be  the  deliverer  of 
his  people,  there  was  a  movement  among  the 
Israelites   to   cry  unto  God.      The   people  sighed 


144  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

and  cried,  and  their  cry  came  up  to  God.  Ex.  ii. 
23.  And  it  was  in  token  of  their  approaching 
redemption  that  Aaron  received  a  divine  command- 
ment to  go  forth  and  meet  his  brother.  Ex.  iv.  27. 

The  mission  of  these  two  brothers  to  Egypt  was 
eminently  a  mission  of  faith.  Two  aged  men,  both 
far  past  man's  allotted  three-score  years  and  ten, 
came  into  the  dominions  of  earth's  greatest  and 
haughtiest  monarch,  to  demand  the  freedom  of  a 
nation  of  bondmen.  They  supported  their  demand 
neither  by  banner  nor  army,  but  with  the  simple 
waving  of  a  shepherd's  wand.  And  Moses,  the 
chief  messenger,  is  himself  obnoxious  to  Egyptian 
law,  if  any  now  remember  the  man  who  fled  from 
the  country  forty  years  before. 

But  they  are  safe  who  go  upon  the  Lord's 
errands.  And  as  Moses  now  has  an  extraordinary 
commission;  not  simply  to  deliver  Israel,  but  to 
speak  Jehovah's  words  in  Jehovah's  name;  and 
as  his  teachings  were  ,to  remain  of  permanent 
authority,  aiad  were  to  exert  an  unbounded  influ- 
ence upon  all  the  future  character  and  history  of 
the  church  of  God,  so  we  find  him  exhibiting  testi- 
monials extraordinary,  to  authenticate  his  divine 
commission. 

The  mission  of  Moses  is  the  first,  in  the  history 
of  the  church,  sealed  by  the  power  of  working  mir- 
acles. Neither  Adam,  nor  Enoch,  nor  Noah,  nor 
Abraham,  were  workers  of  miracles.  As,  therefore, 
these  proofs  of  divine  authority  hold  so  important 


ARE  MIRACLES  CREDIBLE  ?         145 

a  place  in  supporting  the  authority  of  the  Bible ;  and 
as  the  enemies  of  revelation,  with  the  unerring  logic 
of  a  native  antipathy  to  divine  truth,  have  made 
their  chief  assaults  upon  this  species  of  evidence,  it 
seems  proper  that  their  first  appearance  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church  should  give  us  occasion  to  vindi- 
cate our  faith  in  these  occurrences. 
And  we  may  speak, 

I.  Of  tlie  design  of  the  Scriptural  Miracles.* 

There  are  two  classes  of  miracles  spoken  of  in 
the  Bible,  between  which  there  are  three  especial 
points  of  distinction.  They  difi"er  in  mode,  in 
design,  and  in  times.  The  first  class  is  composed 
of  such  as  are  wrought  by  Almighty  God  himself; 
sometimes  preannounced  to  man,  but  never  wrought 
by  man.  Such  stupendous  miracles  as  the  transla- 
tion of  Enoch,  the  deluge,  the  confusion  of  tongues, 
and  the  divine  {Theoj^hanies)  appearances  to  the 
patriarchs,  which  were  wrought  before  the  days  of 
Moses ;  and  as  the  wonders  recorded  in  the  histo- 
ries of  Jonah,  Isaiah,  and  Daniel,  should  be  ranked 
among  the  things  which  God  has  wrought.  The 
design  of  these  wonders  seems  to  be  to  exhibit  the 
personal  care  of  God  over  the  works  of  his  hands. 
The  universe  is  not  a  vast  mechanism,  left  to  the 
blind  operation  of  natural  laws,  without  the  con- 
stant care  of  the  Creator.  As  the  object  of  this 
class  of  miracles  is  to  show  the  providential  gov- 
ernment of  God,  so  by  events  proving  his  rule  in 

*  Of  course,  on  this  subject.  Trench  has  become  a  standard  author. 
\  ..I..  I.— 13 


146  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

all  ages,  God  hath  not  left  himself  without  witness. 
At  some  times  he  has  borne  testimony  by  such  mir- 
acles ;  at  other  times,  by  providential  workings  in  hu- 
man affairs,  quite  as  wonderful  as  any  miracles ;  quite 
as  good  proof  of  his  kindness  and  wisdom ;  and 
quite  as  truly  leading  candid  men  to  say,  "This  is 
the  finger  of  God." 

It  is  not  of  this  class  of  miracles  that  we  speak 
when  we  say  that  Moses  was  the  first  worker  of 
miracles.  We  speak  of  miracles  wrought  by  an 
intervening  human  agency.  AYe  shall  afterwards 
show  that  these  are  not  of  frequent  occurrence 
among  men.  Their  occurrence  is  limited  by  their 
definite  design.  Their  design  is  to  authenticate 
the  divine  commission  of  a  messenger  from  God. 
When  God  sends  a  man  upon  an  extraordinary 
errand,  to  communicate  his  will  to  his  fellow-men, 
he  furnishes  him  with  extraordinary  credentials  of 
authority. 

We  may  now  remark, 

II.  Zfpoti  the  reasonableness  of  expecting  that   such  Miracles 
should  be  wrought  as  the  proofs  of  such  a  Cotntnission. 

We  may  confess  that  we  have  no  sympathy  with 
those  who  esteem  it  strange  for  God  to  confirm  the 
claims  of  his  messengers  by  conferring  such  miracu- 
lous gifts.  With  the  great  master  of  modern  phi- 
•  losophy,  we  are  ready  to  believe  almost  anything, 
rather  than  that  this  universe  has  no  moral  Ruler.* 

*  Works  of  Lord  Bacon,  i.  24,  Essay  xvi. 


147 

Perhaps  the  very  feeling  which  prompted  Bacon 
to  such  an  utterance,  may  have  given  so  great  cur- 
rency to  fables,  in  lands  and  times  where  nothing 
better  was  known.  We  esteem  it  highly  desirable 
that  God  should  reveal  his  will  to  man ;  and  all 
needful  means  to  this  end  are  reasonable,  for  the 
sake  of  so  great  a  result.  So  far  from  esteeming 
miracles  naturally  incredible,  we  should  rather  ex- 
pect to  see  them  wrought,  when  a  just  occasion  de- 
mands. 

"Now,  in  what  way,"  asks  Archdeacon  Paley, 
"can  a  revelation  be  made,  but  by  miracles?"* 
And  he  replies,  "In  none  which  we  are  able  to 
conceive."  The  revelation  of  the  invisible  God  in 
any  form  must  involve  a  miracle.  If  he  speaks 
directly  from  heaven,  this  is  supernatural ;  if  he 
speaks  by  any  man's  instrumentality,  that  man 
must  afford  to  his  fellow-men  sufficient  proof  to 
vindicate  their  faith  in  so  great  a  claim.  The 
simplest  and  most  unexceptionable  proof  is  the 
ability  to  do  that  which  divine  power  alone  can 
accomplish.  So  Moses  says,  "Behold,  they  will 
not  believe  me,  nor  hearken  to  my  voice ;  for  they 
will  say,  the  Lord  hath  not  appeared  unto  thee." 
Ex.  iv.  1.  Therefore,  when  he  was  sent,  the 
charge  to  him  was:  "See  that  thou  do  all  those 
wonders  before  Pharaoh,  which  I  have  put  in  thine 
hand."  Ex.  iv.  21. 

Nor  is  there  any  just  reason   to   say   that   the 

*  Evidences  of  Christianity  Preparatory  Considerations. 


148  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

exercise  of  extraordinary  and  special  powers  is  any 
interference  with  the  otherwise  uniform  and  un- 
changeable "order  of  nature."  The  moment  we 
assign  a  special  place  to  miracles,  and  a  special 
intelligent  design  for  their  occurrence,  we  confirm 
and  establish  the  ordinary  law.  This  is  just  the 
meaning  of  the  well  established  formula,  Exceptio 
prohat  regulam.  The  exception  establishes  the 
rule.  Indeed,  miracles  would  either  be  impossible, 
or  they  would  be  without  force  to  attest  a  revela- 
tion, if  such  phenomena  occurred  casually,  i.  e.  if 
the  ordinary  course  of  providential  law  was  not  inva- 
riable. As  we  cannot  gainsay  the  divine  power 
to  work  miracles,  nor  question  the  efficiency  of  such 
testimony  to  authenticate  the  divine  commission 
of  any  prophet;  as  an  object  so  important  will  fully 
justify  such  displays  of  divine  agency,  nothing 
more  can  be  reasonably  demanded  than  that  the 
miracles  wrought  should  in  all  things  accord  with 
their  professed  design  to  honour  and  glorify  God. 
In  the  nature  of  the  miracles  themselves;  in  the 
nature  and  clearness  of  the  proof  that  substantiates 
them;  in  the  comparative  rareness  of  their  occur- 
rence in  the  history  of  the  world ;  and  in  the  influ- 
ence, then  and  ever  since,  exerted  by  them,  we 
may  see  just  reason  for  crediting  the  divine  au- 
thority of  that  Sacred  Volume  to  which  God  him- 
self has  borne  witness  "with  signs,  and  wonders, 
and  divers  miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
according  to  hia  own  will."  Hcb.  ii.  4.     The  points 


ARE  MIRACLES  CREDIBLE  ?        149 

thus  briefly  suggested  will  be  noticed  more  fully  in 
the  succeeding  chapter. 

It  is  a  remark  well  worthy  of  notice, 

III.  That  the  Iteligion  of  the  Bible  alone  professes  to  he  based 
upon  the  tniracnlous  evidences  of  a  Divine  commission  in  its 
Prophets. 

It  may  suit  the  enemies  of  all  religion  to  refer 
all  miracles,  true  or  false,  to  one  class ;  but  truth 
requires  that  an  important  distinction  be  made  be- 
tween the  Scriptural  miracles  and  all  others.  Other 
religions  claim  that  miracles  have  been  wrought  in 
their  support;  and  many  false  claims  have  been 
set  up  in  behalf  of  corrupted  forms  of  Christianity. 
But  this  is  true,  especially  of  Moses  and  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that  their  miracles  were  wrought  as  the 
foundation  of  the  people's  confidence  in  them. 
Moses  stood  before  the  Israelites,  who  had  not  seen 
him  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  before  the  hos- 
tile Egyptians,  and  wrought  these  wonders  of  great 
power.  Christ  stood  before  a  generation  that  cru- 
cified him,  and  openly  said:  ''If  I  do  not  the  works 
of  my  Father,  believe  me  not."  John  x.  37.  Very 
diff'erent  from  this  is  the  claim  to  miraculous  pow- 
ers elsewhere  made. 

We  cannot  account  for  the  rise  of  Christianity 
at  all,  without  reckoning  that  its  foundation  was 
in  miracles.  Even  the  infidel  historian,  as  we 
shall  again  notice,  must  assign  a  reputation  for 
working  miracles  among  the  causes  for  the  spread 
of  the  gospel.  As  if  a  reputation  founded  upon 
13  * 


150  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

imposture  could  be  of  any  possible  avail  in  the 
beginning  of  such  an  enterprise ! 

The  Mohammedan  doctors  assign  to  their  prophet 
numerous  miracles ;  some  say  a  thousand,  others  more 
than  four  thousand.*  But  no  claim  was  set  up  for 
any  such  powers  in  the  prophet  until  long  after  his 
death;  and  he  himself  makes  no  such  claims  in  the 
Koran.  Mr.  Paley  says  he  reckoned  thirteen  dis- 
tinct places  in  the  Koran  where  Mohammed  speaks 
of  unbelievers  demanding  signs  from  him;  and  in 
neither  of  these  does  he  allege  that  he  wrought  a 
miracle  in  reply  to  the  demand.f 

In  the  church  of  Rome  various  claims  have  been 
made  ;  but  all  alike  destitute  of  a  historical  founda- 
tion. The  Jesuits  allege  that  their  founder,  Igna- 
tus  Loyola,  wrought  many  miracles;  more,  indeed, 
and  more  numerous,  than  those  of  Christ  himself. 
They  declare  that  proof  of  more  than  two  hundred 
was  laid  before  the  Pope  to  secure  his  canonization. 
He  expelled  demons — not  by  a  word,  but  by  a  let- 
ter. He  walked  many  times  in  the  air.  He 
lighted  up  dark  rooms  with  his  shining  countenance 
and  glistening  garments.  But  though  Loyola  lived 
in  an  active  and  intelligent  age,  no  such  claims 
were  set  up  until  long  after  his  death.  His  life 
was  written  by  his  scholar  and  companion,  Ribad- 
eneira,  and  published  in  1572,  fifteen  years  after 
his  death.  A  new  and  greatly  enlarged  edition, 
with  other  facts  from  persons  intimately  familiar 

*  Ockley's  Hist.  Saracens,  66.        f  Evidence,  Pt.  II.  Ch.  ix.  g  3. 


ARE  MIRACLES  CREDIBLE  ?        151 

with  him,  appeared  in  1587:  still  a  different  me- 
moir from  the  Jesuit,  Maffei,  was  published  in  1585 : 
yet  in  neither  of  these  publications  is  a  single  mir- 
acle ascribed  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  these,  his 
own  intimate  friends,  assign  reasons  to  explain 
why  it  did  not  please  God  to  work  miracles  by  so 
eminent  a  servant. 

Like  things  may  be  said  of  the  Jesuit,  Francis 
Xavier.  Though  many  miracles  are  ascribed  to 
him,  his  own  published  letters  make  no  claim  that 
he  wrought  any.  The  apologist  of  the  Romish 
church  can  appeal  but  to  a  single  ambiguous  word 
to  support  the  claim.*  Yet  it  is  not  improbable 
that  Xavier,  labouring  as  a  missionary  in  distant 
lands,  may  have  practised  upon  the  credulity  of 
the  heathen,  by  arts  which  he  carefully  omitted  to 
mention  in  his  European  correspondence.  Between 
all  miracles  thus  alleged,  without  any  attestation 
from  eye-witnesses,  or  even  any  mention  from  co- 
temporaries  ;  and  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  sa- 
cred writings,  there  is  a  manifest  distinction.  It 
is  one  thing  to  declare  that  a  man  already  famous, 
had  wrought  wonders :  it  is  quite  another  that  mir- 
acles should  lay  the  foundation  for  influence  and 
authority. 

It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind 

IV.  That  the  evidences  of  the  Scriptures  are  historical,  emi- 
nently and  peculiarly  ;  and  all  fair  attacks  upon  them  should 
be  made  by  historical  deductions. 

Scarcely  anything  is  more  remarkable  in  regard 

*  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  186. 


152  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

to  these  records,  as  compared  with  other  reli- 
gious teachings,  than  their  clear  and  confident 
appeals  to  history.  .  Christianity — the  religion  of 
the  Bible — "alone  of  all  religions,  claims  to  be 
founded,  not  on  fancy  or  feeling,  but  on  fact  and 
truth."* 

Yet  it  may  truly  be  said  that  no  assailant 
of  the  Scriptural  miracles  has  ever  proceeded 
against  them  on  the  method  of  historical  deduc- 
tion. It  is  indeed  worthy  of  careful  notice  that 
two  of  the  most  erudite  writers  of  history  in 
the  English  language  within  the  past  hundred 
years,  were  both  infidels ;  have  both  attacked  the 
evidences  of  Christianity;  and  both  declined  to 
make  their  assaults  in  the  very  sphere  where 
their  competency  is  acknowledged.  When  we 
find  men  like  Hume  and  Gibbon,  neglecting  those 
plain  matters  of  fact,  with  which  as  historians 
they  should  be  conversant ;  and  attacking  plain 
history  by  the  misty  aid  of  metaphysics ;  not 
venturing  as  historians  to  assert  that  these  things 
were  not  so;  but  claiming  as  philosophers  that 
they  could  not  be  so:  their  very  silence  betrays 
their  own  convictions  that,  historically,  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Scriptures  is  unassailable.  So  Mr. 
Gibbon  says,  "The  prudent  historian  will  refuse 
to  examine  the  propriety,  till  he  has  ascertained 
the    truth''   of  any   matter. f     Yet    both   he    and 

*  Rawlinson's  Hist.  Ev.,  233.     Sinai  and  Palestine,  155. 
t  Dec.  and  Fall,  ii.  349. 


AIIE    MIRACLES  CREDIBLE.  153 

Mr.  Hume  argue  principles,  and  decline  to  bring 
forward  facts.  Surely  when  professed  and  hostile 
historians  shrink  from  any  counter-statement  upon 
historical  grounds,  the  friends  of  a  historical  religion 
may  be  allowed  to  triumph ! 

In  every  age  a  hundred  men  can  reason  pro- 
foundly to  detect  false  reasonings,  where  one  is 
able  to  make  historical  investigations.  That  these 
men  have  unwillingly  borne  testimony  just  where 
the  truth  needed  unexceptionable  witnesses,  enables 
thoughtful  minds,  even  among  the  uneducated,  to 
meet  and  refute  their  sophistries.  Nothing  can 
be  done  where  they  have  failed.  The  historical 
foundation  of  the  Scriptures,  with  the  miraculous 
claims  that  cannot  be  separated  from  them,  stands 
fast.  If  the  facts  could  have  been  contradicted 
these  men  would  have  been  forward  to  do  this. 
They  were  too  shrewd  to  reason  upon  statements, 
where  they  dare  venture  a  flat  denial.  We  know 
when  Christianity  arose  and  where;  by  what  agen- 
cies ;  against  what  oppositions ;  with  what  peculiar 
teachings;  and  attended  by  what  glorious  results. 
Every  minor  claim  is  linked  to  these  indisputable 
truths,  so  that  Moses  cannot  be  false  if  Christ  is 
true:  and  Christ  cannot  be  false  if  the  world  has 
any  truths  worthy  of  our  faith. 


154  THE   HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

CHAMACTEMISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES. 

"  What  most  surprises  on  the  sacred  page, 
Or  full  as  strange,  or  stranger,  must  be  true; 
Faith  is  not  reason's  labour,  but  repose." 

Young. 

A  TRUE  miracle  should  be  able  to  abide  every  just 
test  that  can  be  applied  to  it.  We  desire  in  this 
chapter  to  suggest  a  few  things  in  which  the  mira- 
cles recorded  in  the  Scriptures  seem  superior  to 
the  wonders  that  are  sometimes  alleged  as  proofs 
that  other  religions  are  on  a  level  with  the  religion 
of  the  Bible.  Truth  never  assumes  the  garb  of 
falsehood;  yet  falsehood  often  tries  to  pass  off  for 
truth. 

I.  The  Miracles  recorded  in  the  Sacred  Volume  are  in  their  own 
nature  such  as  we  might  expect  to  see  tvrouffht  hy  the  power  of 
a  'wise  and  gracious  God, 

A  counterfeit  bank-note  may  profess  the  same 
with  the  genuine,  and  may  imitate  it  more  or  less 
closely.  But  competent  judges  can  often  detect, 
in  the  very  execution  of  the  work,  the  hand  of  an 
imitator.     So  the   contrast   may  strike   the  most 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES.    155 

casual  observer,  when  we  compare  the  very  char- 
acter of  the  wonders  recorded  elsewhere  than  in 
the  Bible,  with  the  miraculous  deeds  chiefly  herein 
written.  As  the  sacred  Scriptures  are  remarkable 
for  their  freedom  from  the  gross  errors  that  abound 
in  every  other  ancient  book,  whether  profane  or 
professedly  sacred;  so  the  miracles  of  the  Bible 
stand  in  a  class  by  themselves,  and  as  compared 
with  others,  shine  with  a  lustre  peculiarly  their 
own.  They  are  neither  charms,  nor  prodigies,  nor 
monsters,  but  miracles.  Let  us  lay  aside  the 
alleged  evidences,  and  spend  a  few  thoughts  upon 
the  miracles  themselves.  The  Mohammedans  tell 
us  that  their  prophet  caused  the  moon  to  pass 
through  the  sleeve  of  his  robe,  to  separate  into 
two  parts,  and  to  ascend  up  as  it  was  before;  that 
gravel  sang  in  his  hand;  that  poisoned  meat  spoke 
and  warned  him  not  to  eat  of  it;  and  that  cooked 
and  half-eaten  fowls  were  endowed  with  life  and 
speech.*  The  Apocryphal  books  that  pretend  to 
record  the  early  miracles  of  Jesus,  affirm  that  he  mi- 
raculously corrected  the  defects  in  the  workmanship 
of  Joseph  as  a  carpenter;  formed  images  of  clay  and 
endowed  them  with  motion  and  life ;  in  childish  petu- 
lance revenged  himself  by  striking  his  playmates 
d^ad ;  and  upon  the  breaking  of  his  pitcher,  carried 
w^ater  home  to  his  mother  in  his  cloak. f  Among  the 
works  ascribed  to  Simon  Magus,  we  hear  of  walk- 

*  Ockley's  Hist.  Saracens,  66. 

I  Gospel  of  the  Infancy.     Apoc.  N.  T. 


156  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ing  statues,  brass  dogs  that  barked,  and  transfor- 
mations of  men  into  animals.*  Among  the  mira- 
cles of  the  church  of  Rome,  we  read  of  persons  con- 
versing for  hours  and  days  after  their  heads  were 
cut  off;t  of  "a  missionary  crossing  a  river  every  day 
for  a  year  upon  his  hands  and  knees  upon  a  frozen 
beam ; J  of  a  statue  inclining  its  head,  and  extend- 
ing its  arm  to  embrace  a  criminal  ;§  of  a  dead  body 
decayed  till  only  the  bones  were  left,  asking  to 
make  confession ;||  of  flowers  springing  up  with  the 
praises  of  the  Virgin  Mary  written  in  letters  of 
gold  upon  the  leaves  ;T[  all  these  are  written  in 
one  single  volume;  and  in  our  own  land  and  times, 
published  with  the  approbation  of  their  highest  dig- 
nitary among  us.  And  like  things  are  abundantly 
written  in  their  traditions.  The  winking  Madon- 
nas, the  bleeding  images,  and  the  miracle  of  the 
blood  of  St.  Januarius,  as  set  forth  for  the  belief 
of  our  own  age,  are  familiar  to  every  intelligent 
person.  But  all  these  are  as  different  as  possible 
from  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  sacred  volume. 
When  we  turn  our  eyes  upon  them,  we  seem  to  be 
comparing  a  coarse  clumsy  counterfeit  bill  with  the 
neat  and  graceful  engraving  which  the  hand  of  a 
master  workman  has  put  upon  the  genuine  note. 
These  wonders  are  usually  as  frivolous  in  their  own 

*  Trench  on  Miracles,  31.  f  Glories  of  Mary,  273,  689. 

I  Glories  of  Mary  publipbefl  in  1852  with  the  approbation  of 
Archh'p.  Hughes,  p.  52.  ^  Pp.  213,  233.  ||  P.  262.  %  Pp.  692, 
693. 


CIIARACTEEISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES.    157 

nature,  as  they  are  vague  in  the  usual  purposes 
assigned  to  them. 

Now  in  palpable  contrast  with  all  these,  the 
Scriptural  miracles  are  appropriate  to  their  place; 
dignified;  in  harmony  with  the  character  of  God; 
supernatural,  but  not  monstrous;  and  thus  in  the 
very  narration  of  them,  having  an  air  of  verity 
which  is  far  absent  from  these  trifling  legends. 

IT.   The  nature  and  clearness  of  the  proofs  tvhich  attest  the 
Scriptural  Miracles  may  distingiiish  them  from  all  others. 

The  miracles  of  Moses  and  of  Christ  were  such 
that  there  was  no  possibility  of  mistake  on  the  part 
of  the  witnesses.  They  were  wrought  in  things 
where  every  man,  ignorant  or  learned,  was  a  com- 
petent judge;  openly  and  before  great  multitudes  of 
men,  some  of  whom  from  foes  became  friends,  and 
others  remained  foes,  yet  without  venturing  to  deny 
these  wonders.  That  historic  evidence  should  be 
thought  complete  which  infidels  have  assaulted  for 
sixteen  centuries,  and  yet  have  never  ventured  to  at- 
tack by  historic  deductions.  It  is  tame  to  say  that 
no  portion  of  human  history  is  so  well  authenticated. 
Such  a  vast  accumulation  of  historic  proof,  in  origi- 
nal documents,  in  remaining  institutions,  in  concur- 
rent voices  of  various  writers,  in  explicit  teachings 
incapable  of  refutation;  such  an  amount  of  vigorous 
inquiry — and  from  every  motive  that  can  actuate 
man — as  have  gathered  around  this  single  volume, 
the  Bible,  does  not  belong  to  all  the  other  remains 

Vol.  I.— U 


158  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

of  human  history  put  together.  The  very  fact 
that  the  Bible  maintains  its  hold  upon  the  faith 
and  love  of  man;  rather  we  should  say  the  fact 
that  the  Bible  is  more  widely  circulated  and  more 
zealously  obeyed  than  ever;  and  this  too  in  the 
most  intelligent  communities  on  earth,  and  by  the 
most  upright  and  benevolent  men  the  world  pos- 
sesses, seems  entirely  inconsistent  with  even  the 
possibility  that  its  claims  are  falsely  founded.  No 
history  but  a  true  one,  could  abide  the  investiga- 
tions through  which  this  book  has  passed.  Oppo- 
site to  this  thought  is  the  reflection,  that  one 
fact  proves  the  obvious  falsehood  of  infidelity — its 
grounds  of  attack  are  changed  with  every  succeed- 
ing age;  and  we  have  thus  proof  that  the  enemies 
of  the  Scriptures  are  not  satisfied  with  each  other's 
arguments. 

III.   TJie  ohject  hept  in  view  in  the  3Iiracles  recorded  in  the 
ScHptures  is  one  worthy  of  the  JOivine  power. 

No  instance  can  be  shown  in  which  the  evident 
influence  of  the  miracle  is  not  the  honour  of  God. 
Both  those  who  wrought  and  those  who  witnessed 
the  miracles  of  the  Scriptures,  ascribe  the  glory  to 
him.  Nicodemus  said,  "No  man  can  do  these  mir- 
acles except  God  be  with  him."  John  iii.  2.  The 
baffled  magicians  of  Egypt  say  "This  is  the  finger 
of  God."  Ex.  viii.  19.  The  Apostles  deny  ex- 
pressly that  they  did  these  things  by  their  "  own 
power  or  holiness."  Acts  iii.  12.     This  is  just  what 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES.  159 

we  should  expect,  if  these  are  wonders  wrought  by 
God  to  attest  the  mission  of  his  prophets.  And  it 
is  a  sufficient  refutation  of  the  charge  that  miracles 
tend  to  impugn  the  established  order  of  nature, 
that  no  men  have  more  honoured  God's  providen- 
tial rule  or  obeyed  the  dictates  of  his  law  than 
those  who  have  most  firmly  believed  the  supernatu- 
ral things  of  the  Bible. 

IT.  The  comparative  rareness  tvith  which,  these  tvonders  occur 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  God  is  a  reniarhable  testimony 
to  their  truthfulness. 

And  this  remark  should  have  the  more  force, 
because  it  is  a  common  impression  that  miraculous 
wonders  belong  to  the  entire  history  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  because  the  Romish  church  lays  claim  to 
the  exercise  of  miraculous  powers,  as  one  of  the 
proofs,  to  the  present  hour,  of  her  truthfulness  as 
a  church.*  This  involves  a  great  error  in  under- 
standing God's  ways  of  dealing  with  his  people. 
Miraculous  powers  were  rarely  granted  to  the 
prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  church:  we  have 
no  reason  to  judge  that  they  were  to  be  differently 
afforded  in  the  New  Dispensation. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  two  classes  of  mira- 
cles wrought  by  Divine  power ;  distinct  in  work- 
ing, in  design,  and  in  the  times  of  their  occurrence. 
The  miracles  wrought  by  God  himself  without 
human  agency,  must  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  those  wrought  through  the  agency  of  man. 

*  Bellarmine'sj  Eleventh  Mark. 


160  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

The  definite  design  of  this  latter  class  is  to  attest 
the  commission  of  those  whom  God  has  sent  upon 
an  extraoi  (linary  prophetical  mission.  Miracles 
of  this  class  are  not  scattered  through  all  the  his- 
tory of  the  church:  they  appear  when  some  new 
great  work  is  to  be  done  for  God;  and  they  cease 
as  soon  as  the  work  is  fairly  established. 

So  miracles  of  this  class  can  be  found  chiefly  in 
three  periods  of  the  church.  The  first  period  is 
the  age  of  Moses.  It  was  fitting  that  the  first 
inspired  writer,  and  the  first  lawgiver  of  the  church 
of  God  should  confirm  his  extraordinary  commission 
by  signs  from  heaven.  The  second  period  is  the 
age  of  Elijah.  He  was  the  great  reformer  of  Old 
Testament  defection,  almost  to  apostasy;  and  the 
propriety  that  he  should  work  miracles  is  less  dis- 
tinct, but  similar  to  that  of  Moses.  The  third 
period,  greatest  of  all  in  every  respect,  is  that  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His  were  greater  teach- 
ings and  higher  claims  than  the  world  has  other- 
wise known;  and  there  seems  eminent  propriety 
that  the  Son  of  God  should  prove  the  truth  of 
his  claims  upon  Divinity  itself,  by  stupendous, 
abundant,  and  benevolent  miracles. 

So  far  from  believing  that  miracles  wrought 
through  human  instrumentality  belong  to  all  the 
history  of  God's  people,  or  that  the  power  to  work 
such  is  a  permanent  ^'mark"  of  the  church,  we 
gather  from  the  Scriptures  that  only  an  extraordi- 
hary  mission  may  appropriately  exhibit  such  testi- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES.    161 

monials  from  heaven.  The  miracles  of  the  Bible 
of  this  class,  are  rare,  except  as  associated  with 
these  three  names,  or  as  wrought  bj  their  immedi- 
ate successors.  It  strengthens  the  proof  of  gen- 
uineness in  these  great  things,  that  in  the  three 
great  periods  of  miraculous  wonders,  they  were  not 
strictly  confined  to  a  single  person;  but  as  all  of 
them  left  the  earth  with  their  respective  labours 
incomplete,  so  the  immediate  successors  of  each, 
whose  place  it  was  to  prosecute  the  same  extraor- 
dinary work,  were  endowed  with  like  powers.  If 
Joshua  is  to  take  up  the  unfinished  labours  of  Mo- 
ses and  lead  the  people  to  Canaan,  Joshua  also 
works  stupendous  miracles.  If  Elisha  was  to 
carry  forward  the  incomplete  reformation  begun  by 
Elijah,  he  also  shows  his  authority  from  on  high. 
And  so  if  the  death  of  Christ  and  his  ascension  on 
high  must  occur  before  the  wide  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel, his  apostles,  who  had  an  extraordinary  com- 
mission to  the  w^orld,  and  who  have  furnished  us 
with  the  most  important  written  records  of  revela- 
tion, go  forth  with  like  powers  to  those  exerted  by 
him,  whom  all  they  consent  to  call  Master.  And 
only  because  the  church  stands  upon  a  foundation 
of  unshaken  truth  can  we  account  for  the  remark- 
able fact,  which  would  certainly  not  be  found  in  a 
system  supported  by  credulity  and  imposture,  that 
in  proportion  as  the  church  grew  strong  and  well 
established  and  able  to  palm  false  miracles  upon 
the  world,  even  the  claim  to  exercise  such  gifts  was 
u  * 


162  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

less  frequently  made.  The  claim  has  been  made 
in  darker,  later  times,  when  the  nature  of  the  mir- 
acles and  the  proof  of  their  occurrence  are  both  in 
contrast  with  the  earlier  history.  It  seems  likely 
that  the  power  of  working  miracles  largely  existed 
in  the  Christian  church  during  the  first  century, 
at  least  during  the  entire  life-time  of  Christ's  last 
Apostle;  between  that  time  and  the  conversion  of 
Constantino  the  Great,  we  cannot  certainly  decide 
that  all  were  spurious;  but  after  the  conversion  of 
the  Roman  emperor,  the  only  event  of  a  miraculous 
nature  that  seems  truly  authenticated,  is  one 
wrought  by  Providence  rather  than  by  man — the 
Emperor  Julian  was  divinely  prevented  from  re- 
building the  temple  at  Jerusalem.*  Difierent  wri- 
ters in  the  Christian  church  testify  to  the  cessation 
of  miraculous  powers.  Gregory  of  New  Cesarea 
in  the  third  century  was  surnamed  Thaumaturgus, 
because  of  the  many  wonders  assigned  to  him;  but 
none  of  his  writings  have  descended  to  us,  and  his 
life  comes  to  us  only  in  the  credulous  narrative  of 
a  writer  in  the  next  century  after  him.f  But 
Chrysostom,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, expressly  says  that  "  God  has  now  ceased  to 
work  miracles;"  and  that  "The  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
had  ceased  long  ago. "J     And  Theodoret§  in  the 

*  See   Mosheim,  4tli   Cent.,  Neander,  ii.  50.     Warburton's   Diy. 
Leg.,  iii.  420.     On  the  other  side  Lardner,  vii.  604,  seq. 

•f  See  Lardner,  ii.  639,  640.     Mosheim,  Cent,  iii.,  Pt.  ii.,  ch.  ii.:  g  vii. 
X  Lardner,  iv.  666,  567.     §  Lardner,  v.  21.    See  also  v.  121, 123. 


CHARACTEKISTICS  OF  SCRIPTUKAL  MIRACLES.  163 

early  part  of  the  same  century  confirms  the  Scrip- 
tural miracles;  but  speaks  as  if  these  powers  had 
ceased  in  his  time. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  different  these  things  are 
from  the  claim  that  miraculous  powers  belong  to 
the  church  of  God  through  long  ages ;  and  that  the 
exercise  of  them  is  one  of  the  marks  of  a  true 
church.*  When  God  gives  an  extraordinary  com- 
mission and  new  teachings,  it  is  according  to  his 
usual  dealings  to  give  these  proofs  of  the  Divine 
sanction. 

F.  The  effects  jtrodticed  hy  the  Miracles  recorded  in  the  Scrip- 
tui'es  are  an  imjiortant  part  of  the  evidence  that  tJtet/  tvere 
really  wrought. 

So  Origen  long  ago  argued  that  the  alleged  won- 
ders of  heathenism  had  left  no  traces  behind  them 
in  the  world's  history;  while  the  miracles  of 
Moses  issued  in  the  Jewish  polity ;  and  those  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  established  the  Christian  church.f 
So  Chrysostom  says  that  the  spread  of  Christianity 
without  a  miracle  would  be  greatly  more  miracu- 
lous than  any  thing  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. J  Nor  can  any  man  account  for  the  influ- 
ence gained  by  Moses  over  the  Jews,  except  by 
believing  that  he  had  this  Divine  commission. 
Not  because  he  flattered  them,  or  laid  light  bur- 
dens upon  them;  not  because  they  relished  his 
laws,  or  that  his  writings  agreed  with  the  national 

*  See  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  Letter  xxiii. 

t  Trench,  30.  %  Lardner,  iv.,  563. 


164  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

temper;  on  the  contrary,  ever  rebelling  against 
their  own  laws,  ever  apostatizing  from  their  own 
religion,  ever  indulging  a  national  temper  widely 
different  from  their  sacred  books,  we  can  only 
account  for  their  unswerving  testimony  in  favour 
of  Moses  for  over  three  thousand  years,  by  rec- 
ognizing that  he  gave  them  at  the  time,  incon- 
testable proof  of  his  Divine  commission.  And  the 
argument  to  prove  the  Divine  authority  of  Moses 
and  of  the  entire  Old  Testament  should  be  es- 
teemed complete  when  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  established:  seeing  that  he  so  explicitly  ac- 
knowledges the  claims  and  correctness  of  the  Scrip- 
tures as  held  by  the  Jews  of  his  times. 

The  stupendous  fabric  of  Christianity  must  be 
accounted  for,  in  the  world's  history.  What  it 
is,  we  know;  and  that  its  doctrines  are  unpalata- 
ble to  the  mass  of  men.  Where  and  when  it 
sprang  up,  we  know;  and  that  the  obscure  and 
despised  people,  from  whose  midst  it  came,  had  no 
power  to  withstand  the  forces  they  opposed.  And 
be  it  remembered  that  even  the  infidel  Gibbon 
could  not  reckon  the  causes  of  the  spread  of  this 
religion  without  reckoning  among  them  the  virtues 
of  the  early  Christians;*  forgetting  the  inference 
that  if  they  were  virtuous  men,  they  made  no 
false  claims  in  the  w-orld.  There  is  no  room  here 
to  speak  of  a  mistaken  sincerity.  The  workers 
and  the  witnesses  of  miracles  like  these,  all  knew, 

*  Reason  and  Faith,  370  j  note. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  SCRIPTURAL  MIRACLES.    165 

to  a  certainty,  whether  these  things  did,  or  did 
not  occur.  And  when  we  consider  the  character 
of  that  age;  the  number  of  persons  concerned; 
the  innumerable  wonders  performed ;  the  sacrifices, 
sufferings,  and  deaths  endured;  the  mingled  igno- 
rance and  originality  of  the  early  preachers ;  the 
scenes  of  their  labours,  in  the  proudest  cities  of 
the  world ;  the  fierce  and  continual  opposition  they 
encountered;  and  their  rapid  and  permanent  suc- 
cess, we  have  a  stupendous  aggregate  of  arguments, 
piled  up  to  strengthen  the  miraculous  foundation 
of  Christianity,  which  may  allow  us  to  answer  the 
unbeliever  in  the  words  of  Chrysostom,  "What 
miracle  dost  thou  desire,  oh  man,  beyond  this 
great  change  made  in  the  world  all  on  a  sudden."* 
In  like  manner  Augustine  argues,  "If  you  do  not 
believe  the  miracles,  you  must  believe  this  miracle, 
that  the  world  was  converted  without  a  miracle,  "f 

*•  Lardner,  iv.  564.  f  Trench,  60  n. 


166  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  MAQICIAJS^S  OF  EGYTT. 

The  long  wished  for  day  of  Israelitish  deliver- 
ance seems  now  about  to  dawn;  the  prayers  of  an 
enslaved  people  seem  about  to  be  answered ;  and 
they  thankfully  rejoice  at  the  coming  of  Moses  and 
Aaron.  But  God,  even  in  the  hour  of  fulfilling 
his  promises,  works  not  as  man  anticipates.  Though 
Moses  and  Aaron  are  leaders  sent  by  Jehovah, 
they  are  hindered  in  bringing  God's  chosen  cove- 
nant people  from  the  land  of  bondage.  Rather, 
the  immediate  effect  of  their  interposition  is  the 
increasing  of  Israelitish  burdens;  and  the  people 
murmured  that  heavier  tasks  resulted  from  the  ef- 
fort for  deliverance. 

Nor  is  it  a  transient  or  insignificant  lesson  that 
is  taught  us  by  these  facts.  Never  is  any  great 
and  needed  change  effected  in  moral  or  social  life 
without  the  temporary  creation  of  evils  apparently 
greater  than  those  before  endured,  preparatory  to 
lasting  benefits.  Especially  the  leading  forth  of 
Israel  from  Egypt  is  typical  of  that  great  change 
which  delivers  the  soul  of  man  from  Satan's  bon- 
dage, and  brings  him  into  the  liberty  of  Christ. 


THE    MAGICIANS    OF    EGYPT.  1G7 

How  many,  in  the  change  from  nature  to  grace, 
partake  of  an  experience,  like  this  of  Israel  in 
Egypt.  So  long  as  the  soul  is  the  willing,  indiffer- 
ent, careless  servant  of  Satan,  it  is  left  by  him  in 
comparative  ease.  The  man  may  know  his  sinful 
estate,  and  may  sometimes  feel  galled  by  his  chains. 
But  his  mind  is  usually  but  little  troubled.  If  at 
this  time  the  message  of  God  calls  him  to  deliver- 
ance— as  Moses  and  Aaron  stood  before  the  people 
in  bondage — if  the  truth  comes  home  to  his  con- 
science, it  is  to  make  him  feel  his  bondage  more 
grievously  than  ever  before.  It  is  not  only  that 
thoughts  of  freedom  make  him  restive  under  servi- 
tude; but  the  great  adversary  lays  heavier  burdens 
upon  him.  How  few  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate, 
except — to  refer  to  Bunyan's  graphic  descriptions 
— they  fall  into  the  Slough  of  Despond,  or  are  put 
in  great  fear,  by  the  fierce  barking  of  Beelzebub's 
dogs,  or  by  the  sharp-shooting  of  his  archers.  Yet 
these  things  are  no  disproof  of  approaching  deliv- 
erance. As  the  Israelites  murmured  at  the  very 
things  which  in  the  end  proved  the  care  of  their 
covenant  God,  so  souls  are  perplexed  and  discour- 
aged under  teachings  and  experiences,  which,  prop- 
erly understood,  are  evidences  of  Divine  care. 
From  first  to  last  in  a  religious  life,  God's  people 
must  "walk  by  faith;"  i.  e.  they  must  learn  to 
trust  his  word  whose  teachings  are  plain,  rather 
than  be  influenced  by  those  dark  providences 
through  which,  as  yet,  we  cannot  see. 


1G8  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER.  V 

But  though  the  troubled  soul  is  often  told  these 
things  by  his  teachers  and  by  the  sacred  word,  he 
is  like  one  who  hears  not.  Like  the  oppressed 
Israelites,  when  Pharaoh  laid  heavier  burdens  upon 
them,  he  hearkens  not  to  the  voice  of  instruction 
"for  anguish  of  spirit  and  for  cruel  bondage."  Ex. 
vi.  9.  So  Bunyan  quaintly  says  that  "twenty 
thousand  cart-loads,  yea  millions  of  wholesome  in- 
structions"— "the  best  materials  to  make  good  the 
ground  of  the  place," — have  been  cast  into  the 
Slough  of  Despond;  "yet  it  is  the  Slough  of  De- 
spond still,  and  so  will  be  when  they  have  done 
what  they  can." 

But  we  may  now  properly  give  our  attention  to  the 
important  scenes,  which  are  transacted  before  the 
king  of  Egypt  to  induce  him  to  let  Israel  go. 
When  we  reflect  that  Divine  power  could  so  easily 
have  made  the  covenant  people  victorious  in  a 
fierce  battle  with  their  oppressors,  and  have  sent 
them  forth  triumphant  in  the  hour  of  victory,  we 
should  easily  judge  that  purposes  of  great  wisdom 
are  involved  in  the  dealings  of  God  with  Egypt. 
Jehovah  here  displays  his  power  to  baffle  the  deep- 
est designs  of  man  ;  and  executes  his  purposes  at 
the  same  time  that  the  wickedness  of  man  is 
allowed  to  plan  and  to  work  to  its  utmost  efficiency. 
And  doubtless  among  the  chief  of  the  Divine 
designs  in  this  memorable  contest,  is  his  purpose  to 
show  the  vanity  and  weakness  of  the  gods  of 
Egypt ;    to   pour   contempt  upon   them   and  upon 


THE    MAGICIANS    OF    EGYPT.  169 

their  boasted  power  ;  and  to  prove  himself  the  God 
of  all  the  earth.  So  before  the  close  of  this  series 
of  terrible  judgments  upon  the  land  for  its  idolatry, 
Jehovah  expressly  declares,  "  Against  all  the  gods 
of  Egypt  will  I  execute  judgment."  Ex.  xii.  12. 

When  Moses  and  Aaron  stood  before  the  king, 
they  made  at  first  the  moderate  demand  that  he 
would  allow  them  to  go  three  days'  journey  into 
the  desert  to  sacrifice.  We  need  not  say  that 
theie  was  anything  disingenuous  in  this  demand, 
even  when  we  allow  that  ultimately  they  aimed  at 
their  complete  deliverance.  For  as  obedience  to 
the  Divine  will  in  small  matters  often  prepares  a 
man  to  yield  obedience  in  greater  things,  so,  had 
Pharaoh  granted  this  permission  for  a  slight  indul- 
gence, and  afterwards  cheerfully  gone  beyond  his 
first  grant,  no  one  would  charge  Moses  with  decep- 
tion, because  his  first  demand  had  not  opened  up 
his  whole  mind.  And  it  is  plain,  that  Pharaoh's 
unwillingness  to  grant  even  this  much,  is  clearer 
proof  of  his  rebellion  against  Jehovah,  than  if  from 
the  first  Moses  had  proposed  the  full  emancipation 
of  the  people. 

The  second  appearance  of  Moses  and  Aaron 
before  the  king  was  attended  by  the  exhibition  of 
those  miraculous  signs  by  which  they  were  to  prove 
their  commission  from  the  God  of  heaven.  Delay- 
ing to  consider  these  wonders  themselves  until  a 
subsequent  chapter,  we  now  occupy  our  thoughts 
with  the  nature  of  the   miracles  here  apparently 

Vol.  I. — 15 


170  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ascribed  to  the  Egyptian  magicians.  In  almost  all 
lands  and  ages,  we  read  of  an  order  of  men  making 
supernatural  pretensions  ;  from  the  magicians  of 
Egypt  to  the  Chaldean  astrologers  and  the  African 
sorcerers  and  rain-makers.  And  here  we  find 
Pharaoh  calling  for  the  magicians  to  work  like 
worwlers  to  those  bhown  by  Moses  ;  as  his  prede- 
cessor had  sent  for  the  same  class  of  men  to  inter- 
pret his  dreams  before  he  knew  of  Joseph,  Gen. 
xli.  8  ;  and  as  the  king  of  Babylon  did  before  he 
knew  Daniel.  Dan.  ii.  2.  The  names  of  two  of  the 
Egyptian  magicians,  Jannes  and  Jambres,  are 
recorded  for  us  by  the  Apostle  Paul.  2  Tim.  iii.  8. 

But  the  chief  matter  of  interest  in  regard  to 
these  wonders  wrought  before  Pharaoh,  relates  to 
the  power  of  these  magicians.  Various  opinions 
exist  among  commentators  respecting  the  questions, 
Did  these  men  really  work  miracles  ?  Or  was  their 
part  of  the  contest  carried  on  merely  by  deception, 
jugglery,  and  sleight  of  hand  ? 

Several  remarks  may  engage  our  attention  before 
we  consider  the  reasons  urged  for  the  opposite 
opinions. 

1st.  It  may  seem  a  strange  thing  that  the 
inspired  narrative  does  not  settle  this  question  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  doubt  as  to  the  meaning. 
Why  are  not  the  magicians  branded  as  impostors, 
if  so  they  were  ?  In  reply  we  may  notice  this 
peculiarity  of  the  entire  Bible,  that  events  are 
simply  recorded,  without  any  expression  of  opinion 


THE  MAGICIANS  OF  EGYPT.        171 

upon  them;  leaving  the  readers  to  understand  the 
events,  from  principles  elsewhere  expressed,  or 
from  their  connections  or  results.  Tlie  Apostles 
scarcely  express  their  indignation  at  the  wickedness 
of  Judas,  in  betraying,  or  of  the  Jews,  in  crucify- 
ing Jesus:  they  scarcely  express  surprise  at  the 
wonders  of  Divine  power  and  grace  around  them. 
In  the  simplest  and  most  impartial  manner,  the 
Scriptures  record  words  and  events  as  they  ap- 
peared before  those  who  saw  and  heard  them. 
And  thus  Moses  records  the  apparent  doings  of  the 
magicians;  knowing  that  the  result  of  the  whole 
contest  was  a  sufficient  proof  of  their  "manifest" 
weakness  and  "folly."   2  Tim.  iii.  9. 

2d.  It  is  well  known  that  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  and  even  in  our  own  times,  many  strange 
things  have  been  wrought  which  it  is  impossible  for 
us  fully  to  explain.  The  magic  of  the  ancients  is 
sometimes  divided  into  three  classes,  natural,  arti- 
ficial, and  diabolical.  Natural  magic  consists  in 
performing  such  wonders  as  an  ignorant  audience 
may  ascribe  to  supernatural  power,  but  which  truly 
result  from  a  superior  knowledge  of  natural  philos- 
ophy. Artificial  magic  is  the  working  of  wonders 
by  jugglery  or  sleight  of  hand.  Diabolical  magic 
was  such  as  was  wrought  by  the  aid  of  evil  spirits. 

We  are  very  certain  that  evil  spirits  were  per- 
mitted, in  former  ages,  to  possess  the  bodies  of 
men;  and  it  may  be  to  work  wonders,  such  as  man 
could  not  efiect  without  an  agency  beyond  his  own. 


172  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

The  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  are  explicit 
upon  this  point;  and  from  its  narratives,  it  would 
appear  that  Satan  possessed  unwonted  power  among 
men  at  the  very  time  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
was  upon  the  earth.  As  he  came  to  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil,  so  never  were  there  so  many 
demoniacal  possessions  as  then.  And  it  is  very 
remarkable  indeed,  that,  as  if  the  oracles  of  the 
heathen  were  pronounced  by  the  aid  of  Satanic 
influence,  we  hear  in  those  times  the  voice  of  Pa- 
ganism lamenting  that  they  had  no  longer  the 
power  of  their  utterance.  So  Juvenal,*  a  famous 
Roman  satirist  of  this  period,  complains  that  the 
heuthen  oracles  had  ceased.  The  anger  of  the 
gods  because  of  the  spread  of  Christianity  was  a 
frequent  method  of  accounting  for  existing  evils; 
and  even  the  infidel  Porphyry,  when  no  stop  could 
be  put  to  a  contagious  and  desolating  sickness, 
assigned  as  a  cause  for  it,  that  by  reason  of  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  the  influence  of  Esculapius 
upon  the  earth  was  over.f  Several  heathen  wri- 
ters say  that  the  oracle  at  Delphi  ceased  through 
the  influence  of  a  Hebrew  boy. J  How  much  in  the 
utterances  of  these  oracles  was  by  the  deceit  and 
imposture  of  the  priests,  and  how  much  by  any 

*  "  Quoniam  Delphis  oraeula  cessant, 
Et  genus  humanum,  damnat  caligo  futuri." 

Satires  vi.  555-6. 
f  Neander's  Church  History,  i.  92. 
I  Edwards'  Hist.  Red.     Works,  i.  448. 


THE    MAGICIANS    OF    EGYPT.  173 

other  agency,  we  cannot  determine.  And  we  may 
say  the  same  of  all  that  ever  has  been,  or  is  now, 
called  by  the  name  of  magic.  Some  things  are 
unquestionably  deception ;  and  some  things  we  are 
not  able  to  explain  from  any  knowledge  that  man- 
kind as  yet  possesses  of  the  powers  of  nature. 
Yet  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  ac- 
knowledgment that  we  cannot  explain  a  phenome- 
non, and  the  recognition  that  it  is  supernatural, 
or,  as  some  say,  infranatural. 

A  3d  remark  is  that  some  of  the  tricks  that 
are  even  now  accomplished  by  the  Egyptian  jug- 
glers greatly  resemble  the  first  and  chief  wonder 
wrought  by  the  magicians  before  Pharaoh.  When 
we  notice  that  but  three  things  were  done  by  them; 
and  that  to  produce  skilfully  a  quantity  of  blood 
when  so  much  was  before  them,  and  a  few  frogs 
when  the  land  was  full  of  them,  does  not  surpass  a 
juggler's  cunning;  the  chief  wonder  wrought  by 
them  is  the  turning  of  their  rods  into  serpents.  It 
is  certainly  a  singular  coincidence  that  just  this 
thing  is  now  done  by  the  Psylli,  or  serpent  charmers 
of  Egypt.  These  men  constitute  a  distinct  and 
hereditary  '^ guild''  among  the  Egyptians.  They 
discover  and  remove  serpents  from  the  houses  they 
infest ;  they  play  with  them,  and  wrap  them 
around  their  persons;  and  the  French  scholars, 
who  accompanied  Napoleon  into  Egypt,  report 
that  they  profess  to  turn  a  snake  into  a  stick. 
The  serpent  they  use  in  this  trick  they  call  haje. 
15  * 


174  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

When  they  want  to  produce  this  effect,  they  spit 
into  its  throat,  close  its  mouth,  and  lay  the  reptile 
down.  The  snake  then  becomes  stiff  and  motion- 
less, and  lies  as  if  dead,  and  they  are  able  to  wake 
it  up  when  they  wish.* 

*  Kurtz's  Old  Gov.  ii.  261.    Hengstenberg's  Books  of  Moaes,  141, 
Serpent-charming  in  Smith's  Diet. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THEIR  MAGICAL  WONDERS.    175 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  NATURE  OF  THEIM  MAGICJLL  WONDERS. 

"  The  world  had  much  of  strange  and  wonderful : 
In  passion  jnuch,  in  action,  reason,  will, 
And  much  in  providence  which  still  retired 
From  human  eye."  Pollok. 

The  opinion  that  the  magicians  before  Pharaoh 
wrought  no  real  miracles,  but  only  practised  decep- 
tive arts,  is  not  a  new  one,  springing  up  either 
from  the  superior  light,  or  the  advancing  skepti- 
cism, of  later  days.  It  is  an  ancient  view  of  the 
case.  Josephus  speaks  of  their  wonders  as  done 
by  craft  and  by  counterfeiting  true  things.  In  the 
Book  of  Wisdom,  confessedly  ancient,  their  works 
are  called  "the  illusions  of  art  magic."  xvii.  17. 

One  chief  reason  for  supposing  that  these  men 
wrought  no  miracles,  is  drawn  from  the  apparent 
inconsistency  that  God  would  allow  them  thus  to 
withstand  his  own  servants,  and  to  succeed  in  prac- 
tising things  whose  tendency  was  to  harden  the 
hearts  of  their  people  against  the  truth.  Yet 
obviously  we  are  unable  to  determine  how  far  the 
arts  of  deception  may  be  carried.  We  cannot  deny 
that   men  deceive   each   other,   and   in   the   most 


176  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

important  affairs.  The  servants  of  God  in  all  ages 
have  found  their  chief  trials  in  the  oppositions  of 
false  teachers,  who  make  fair  professions  of  truth- 
fulness and  sincerity :  the  great  adversary  of  souls, 
if  not  by  his  immediate  agency,  yet  by  various 
means,  gains  access  to  the  hearts  of  men,  and  suc- 
ceeds in  his  efforts  to  deceive  them.  Especially 
those  who  love  evil,  are  often  given  up  to  believe  a 
lie.  It  is  therefore  quite  impossible  for  us  to  say 
how  far  this  deception  may  be  carried;  and  since 
God  allows  sin  to  exist  and  Satan  to  work,  we 
cannot  say  that  this  or  that  manifestation  of  evil  is 
inconsistent  with  the  Divine  goodness. 

Another  reason  for  judging  that  the  magicians 
practised  only  deception  and  jugglery  is  the  diffi- 
culty of  allowing  that  any  power,  except  that  of 
God,  can  work  these  wonders.  And  truly  this  is 
a  formidable  objection,  if  either  we  are  to  under- 
stand that  the  work  of  creation  was  wrought  by 
them  ;  or  that  they  attained  to  the  higher  order  of 
miracles.  Yet  transformation  is  not  equivalent  to 
creation.  We  shall  soon  see  that  their  wonders 
were  far  inferior  to  those  of  Moses  and  Aaron, 
even  if  it  be  granted  that  the  power  they  exerted 
was  more  than  belongs  to  the  unaided  abilities  of 
man. 

On  the  whole  it  seems  more  in  accordance  with 
the  terms  of  the  inspired  narrative  to  suppose,  that 
these  men  did  work  wonders  in  the  presence  of 
Pharaoh,  surpassing  the  mere  power  of  man.     The 


THE  NATURE  OF  THEIR  MAGICAL  WONDERS.     177 

plain  letter  of  the  narrative  sustains  this  idea :  the 
influence  upon  Pharaoh  was  just  what  the  actual 
working  of  such  prodigies  would  produce ;  so  to 
understand  it  only  involves  the  same  difiiculties 
which  we  otherwise  find  in  the  providence  of  God : 
and  the  Scriptures  recognize  the  existence  of  false 
miracles  and  false  prophets.  So  there  are  other 
things  in  the  world  as  inexplicable  to  us  as  the 
wonders  thus  ascribed  to  them. 

Yet  in  either  view  of  the  case,  even  when  the 
most  astonishing  power  is  ascribed  to  them  that 
can  be  justified  by  the  terms  of  the  narrative,  these 
things  may  be  said  to  vindicate  the  providence  of 
God  in  allowing  the  false  prophets  of  Egypt  to 
oppose  those  whom  God  had  sent  upon  an  impor- 
tant mission,  the  true  prophets  of  Israel. 

1st.  The  Scriptures  always  speak  of  these  and 
like  things  in  subsequent  history  as  lying  wonders. 
So  Paul  says  of  these  men  that  their  folly  was 
made  manifest.  2  Tim.  iii.  9.  So  Moses  speaks  of 
those  who  work  signs  and  wonders  in  favour  of 
false  gods  ;  and  declares  that  this  is  of  itself  suffi- 
cient proof  of  evil.  Deut.  xiii.  2-5.  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  declares,  that  false  Christs  and  false  proph- 
ets should  show  great  signs  and  wonders,  suffi- 
ciently delusive  to  deceive  the  very  elect,  (Matt. 
xxiv.  24,)  if  that  was  a  possible  thing !  And  Paul 
says  of  the  Great  Apostasy  that  through  the  work- 
ing of  Satan  it  would  possess  power  to  work  signs 
and  lying  wonders.  2  Thess.  ii.  9.  In  all  these  things 


178  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

there  seems  implied  the  power  at  least  to  deceive 
men;  and  to  secure  this  deception  by  mingled 
power  and  imposture.  The  limits  of  the  two,  we 
cannot  accurately  define.  But  it  is  worthy  of  dis- 
tinct notice  that  the  Scriptures  ascribe  these  things 
always  to  evil ;  say  they  are  credited  by  men 
through  the  liability  of  unrighteous  hearts  to  be 
deceived ;  and  call  them  expressly  lying  wonders. 
Even  if  the  wonders  are  not  themselves  wholly 
false,  they  tend  to  support  falsehood.  In  their 
end,  if  not  in  their  nature,  oftentimes  in  both,  this 
is  their  solution;  they  are  lying  wonders. 

2d.  The  opposition  of  these  magicians  to  Moses 
and  Aaron  had  the  efi'ect  of  causing  these  men 
themselves  to  become  witnesses  for  the  Divine  au- 
thority of  the  legitimate  prophets.  "VYhen  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  our  Lord  Jesus  cleansed  the  lepers 
of  Israel,  he  always  sent  them  to  the  priests  to  be 
pronounced  clean.  By  this,  two  things  were  ac- 
complished. (1)  The  leper  was  formally  admitted 
to  his  standing  in  society  by  the  proper  authority ; 
and  (2)  The  very  priests,  who  were  the  best  judges 
of  leprosy  and  its  cure,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  resolute  adversaries  of  Christ,  were  made  the 
witnesses  that  a  miracle  had  really  been  wrought. 
Who  could  question  that  he  had  cleansed  the  leper, 
when  his  very  enemies  had  pronounced  him  clean  ? 
So  in  the  days  of  Moses,  the  very  miracle-workers 
of  Egypt  bear  testimony  to  the  prophet's  power. 
Had  they  not  been  called  into  Pharaoh's  presence 


THE  NATURE  OF  THEIR  MAGICAL  WONDERS.  179 

at  allj  the  king  and  his  people  might  have  regarded 
Moses  and  Aaron  as  only  wonder-workers,  whose 
skill  somewhat  surpassed  the  men  they  were  wont 
to  see.  Had  the  magicians  come  with  no  power  to 
do  anything,  even  as  they  were  accustomed  to  do, 
the  God  of  Moses  might  have  been  esteemed  by 
the  idolatrous  Egyptians  as  no  more  true  than 
their  own  gods,  but  only  as  possessing  superior 
power.  But  these  men,  whose  entire  profession 
was  devoted  to  maintain  the  idolatry  of  Egypt  were 
divinely  allowed  to  come  before  the  king,  and  there 
perform  the  utmost  arts  which  they  ever  professed 
to  practise  elsewhere.  Thus  they  were  fully  com- 
mitted to  a  contest  between  themselves  and  God's 
prophets ;  and  no  room  was  left  to  evade  the  sub- 
sequent comparison  between  them.  If  ever  these 
men  wrought  wonders,  it  was  in  the  wisdom  of 
Providence  that  upon  this  occasion  they  should  be 
allowed  to  do  their  utmost. 

3d.  It  is  carefully  to  be  noticed,  that  these  ma- 
gicians do  nothing,  that  they  attempt  nothing 
AGAINST  the  working  of  Moses  and  Aaron.  The 
contest  is  unequal  from  the  beginning.  The  lying 
wonders  are  never  equal,  in  nature  or  in  evidence, 
to  the  true  miracles,  as  we  read  the  usual  records 
of  history.  It  had  been  an  object  well  worthy  of 
the  true  strength  of  these  magicians,  to  counteract 
the  miracles  of  Moses.  When  he  turned  the 
Nile  to  blood,  why  did  they  not  pity  the  horror 
and  distress  of  their  suffering  people,  and  turn  it 


180  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

back  to  water?  When  Moses  brought  frogs  upon 
the  land,  why  did  thev  not  banish  the  plague  from 
the  borders  of  Egypt  ?  Such  works  as  these  would 
have  been  worthy  of  their  real  power.  But  they 
were  able,  in  the  largest  exertion  of  their  power, 
only  to  multiply  the  miseries  of  the  land;  and  in- 
stead of  taking  sides  with  Pharaoh,  they  cooperate 
with  Moses  and  Aaron  in  increasing  the  plagues  of 
the  guilty  king. 

And  4th.  Throughout  the  entire  contest,  the 
superiority  of  Moses  and  Aaron  plainly  appears. 
Aaron's  rod  swallowed  up  their  rods.  And  all 
they  attempt  is  inferior,  and  soon  at  an  end.  It 
seems  not  difficult  for  skilful  sleight  of  hand  to 
produce  blood  in  a  vessel,  when  the  river  is  already 
full  of  it;  or  to  produce  frogs,  when  the  land  is 
oppressed  by  their  multitude:  but  it  is  not  long 
till  their  skill  is  baffled  by  wonders  that  seem  no 
more  difficult  to  accomplish;  they  are  constrained 
to  acknowledge  that  this  power  surpasses  theirs ; 
and  as  they  retire  cbnfounded  from  the  contest, 
and  even  unable  to  free  their  own  persons  from 
the  plagues  upon  the  land,  their  lips  are  sealed 
from  all  cavillings  against  the  mission  of  these 
prophets. 

5th.  It  is  important  for  us  to  notice  the  teach- 
ings, here  and  elsewhere,  of  these  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, that  the  influence  of  these  wonders  wrought 
to  support  evil  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  state  of 
heart  in  the  beholders.     Honest,  truth-loving  men 


THE  NATURE  OF  THEIR  MAO  10 A L  WONDERS.  181 

are  not  liable  to  be  deceived  by  these  things. 
And  this  honesty  of  mind  and  purpose,  is  not 
exactly  the  same  thing  as  sincerity  of  belief.  De- 
ception and  hypocrisy  are  not  the  same  thing; 
though  it  is  true  that  something  of  both  is  usually 
found  in  the  supporters  of  error.  When  men  pro- 
fess a  system  of  lies  and  use  their  earnest  efforts 
to  maintain  and  promote  it,  it  may  be  true,  that 
they  really  believe  it.  The  apostate  church  of 
Rome,  no  doubt,  embraces  many  sincere  believers, 
who  are  none  the  less  wrong  for  all  their  sincerity. 
The  language  of  Paul  is  very  strong  respecting  the 
errors,  which  he  predicts  in  the  latter  times.  He 
says,  God  shall  send  them  "strong  delusions  that 
they  should  believe  a  lie."  2  Thess.  ii.  11.  He 
speaks  of  those  who  are  deceivers  at  the  same  time 
that  they  are  themselves  deceived.  But  some 
measure  of  sincere  belief  is  implied  in  the  very 
idea  of  deceit.  It  is  only  when  we  believe  a 
false  thing  to  be  true,  that  we  are  deceived  by  it. 
We  cannot  be  deceived  by  that  which  we  do  not 
at  all  regard  as  true.  In  a  deceived  heart  there 
may  be  many  misgivings,  yet  a  thing  known  to  be 
false  ceases,  so  far,  to  be  deceptive. 

But  in  judging  of  the  moral  condition  of  those 
Avho  are  thus  deceived,  we  must  especially  notice 
to  what  their  deception  is  chiefly  due.  And  the 
Scriptures  abundantly  teach  that  men  are  allowed 
to  believe  lies,  because  of  their  own  wicked  hatred 
of  truth  and  love  of  falsehood.  According  to 
Vol.  I.— 16 


182  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

their  teachings,  it  is  an  easy  thing  for  falsehood 
to  deceive  a  wicked  heart.  When  men  love  their 
sins,  they  are  easily  persuaded  to  believe  those 
doctrines  that  favour  them.  An"  expressive  phrase 
indeed  is  that  of  Paul,  the  "deceivableness  of 
unrighteousness."  Unrighteous  men  are  easily 
deceived.  No  men  believe  upon  less  evidence, 
or  even  plausibility  of  right,  than  those  who  re- 
ceive the  grossest  errors.  So  Paul  declares  those 
men  who  are  given  up  of  God  to  believe  lies, 
received  not  the  love  of  the  truth;  believed  not 
the  truth ;  and  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness. 

The  wonders  wrought  before  Pharaoh  would  all 
have  been  rejected,  in  comparison  with  the  supe- 
rior wonders  wrought  by  Moses  and  Aaron,  but 
for  the  pride  and  rebellion  of  his  heart  against 
truth  and  against  God.  And  this  is  true  of  all 
the  lying  wonders  of  the  world's  history.  Wrought 
to  support  systems  of  falsehood;  destitute  usually 
of  any  just  evidences  of  their  superior  origin,  they 
are  credited  only  by  those  who  receive  them  by 
tradition  without  investigation,  and  by  those  who 
are  willing  to  be  deceived.  It  sufficiently  accounts 
for  the  belief  of  false  miracles,  and  for  the  easy 
spread  of  false  doctrines,  and  for  the  opposition 
constantly  made  to  the  truth,  that  the  minds  of 
sinful  men  are  averse  to  truth ;  they  do  not  like 
to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge ;  they  love  dark- 
ness rather  than  light.  And  the  triumphs  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ  in  every  place  show  abundantly, 


THE  NATUEE  OF  TIIEIK  MAGICAL  WONDERS.     183 

that  the  reason  why  men  oppose  the  spread  of  its 
principles  is  chiefly  the  rebellion  of  wicked  hearta 
against  holy  truths.  No  man  can  give  an  intelli- 
gent reason  for  the  bitter  and  constant  opposition  of 
infidels  to  the  church  of  God,  unless  he  takes  into 
the  account  that  instinctive  antipathy  which  wrong 
has  against  right.  Error  of  every  form  in  Chris- 
tian lands  is  more  in  the  heart  than  in  the  intellect; 
hundreds  of  men  are  ready  to  give  up  at  once 
their  doctrinal  errors,  as  soon  as  they  are  ready 
to  give  up  their  sins ;  and  the  humble  cry  of  a 
sinner  to  a  Divine  Saviour,  is  better  than  the  most 
learned  arguments,  against  heresy.  So  the  Apos- 
tle appropriately  warns  us,  "  Take  heed,  brethren, 
lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief 
in  departing  from  the  living  God."  Heb.  iii.  12. 
How  easy  a  thing  for  any  man  to  arrive  at  know- 
ledge of  the  highest  importance  concerning  God 
and  salvation,  if  he  would  but  begin  the  earnest 
careful  practice  of  those  simple  duties  he  already 
knows.  So  the  Saviour  says,  "If  any  man  will 
do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  John 
vii.  17.  "If  any  one  cannot  fully  see,  let  him 
not  wait,  but  go  forward,  earnestly  seeking  to 
serve  God,  and  the  truth  shall  be  made  plain  to 
him."*  "Then  shall  we  know  if  we  follow  on  to 
know  the  Lord."  Hosea  vi.  3.  How  different  is 
this  humble  teachable  temper,  from  the  spirit  of 
pride  in  Pharaoh,  we  shall  afterwards  see. 

*  Jacobus  on  John,  132. 


184  THE    HEBREW    LAWUIVER. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  EARLIER  PLAGUES  UPON  EGYPT. 

"  The  lawless  tyrant,  who  denies 
To  know  their  Grod,  or  message  to  regard, 
Must  be  compelled  by  signs  and  judgments  dire." 

Milton. 

The  first  miracle  wrought  before  Pharaoh  to  es- 
tablish the  Divine  commission  of  the  Israelitish 
prophets  failed  to  influence  the  mind  of  the  king. 
He  refused  to  let  the  people  go.  The  subsequent 
miracles  therefore  became  a  series  of  judgments  to 
scourge  him  and  his  guilty  land;  and  to  compel 
the  release  of  the  sons  of  Jacob.  No  more  re- 
markable instance  of  hardened  rebellion  against 
God  is  recorded  in  human  history :  and  after 
knowing  what  God  did  to  Pharaoh  and  Egypt,  no 
sinful  man,  or  sinful  peoplej"  need  ever  expect  suc- 
cess in  warring  against  their  Maker. 

It  is  well  worthy  of  our  notice  that  the  miracu- 
lous plagues  wrought  by  Moses  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  have  what  may  be  called  a  natural  aspect 
in  that  land.  Some  of  these  things  are  peculiar  to 
that  country,  and  frequently  occur  there  as  natural 


THE  EARLIER  PLAGUES  UPON  EGYPT.    185 

phenomena,  well  known  to  the  people.  Moses  turned 
the  waters  of  the  river  to  blood;  and  brought  frogs 
and  flies  and  locusts  and  darkness  upon  the  land. 
But  the  Nile,  nearly  every  year  turns  red  like 
blood  at  the  time  of  its  overflowings,  because  the 
red  marl  of  the  higher  districts  discolours  the 
water  through  the  force  of  the  stream:  frogs  and 
flies  and  locusts  are  objects  familiar  to  the  Egyp- 
tians; and  the  Sirocco,  which  blows  over  Egypt 
fr-om  the  great  desert  of  Sahara,  often  covers  the 
whole  country  with  a  horrible  darkness  that  com- 
pels the  inhabitants  to  shut  themselves  up  in  their 
houses.  Now  because  these  are  natural  phenom- 
ena in  Egypt,  greatly  resembling  the  wonders 
ascribed  in  the  sacred  narrative  to  Moses  and 
Aaron,  skeptical  writers  have  objected  to  the  whole 
narrative  as  plainly  an  exaggerated  account  of  the 
occurrences  that  really  took  place  at  the  time  of 
the  Exodus.  As  modern  historians  rank  among 
mythological  fables  a  large  portion  of  early  pro- 
fane history,  so  are  many  disposed  to  rank  these 
earlier  historical  records  of  the  Hebrews,  among 
the  mythical  narratives  which  have  but  the  shadow 
of  a  foundation  in  historical  truth. 

Reserving  to  a  subsequent  chapter  the  state- 
ment of  the  remarkable  proof  which  sustains  his- 
torically the  entire  claims  of  the  books  of  Moses, 
we  may  now  take  occasion  to  ofier  a  few  remarks 
touching  the  miracles  of  Egypt. 

1st.  No  difierence  can  be  more  important  than 

16  *- 


186  THE    HEBREW    LAAVGIVER. 

that  which  we  may  mark  between  the  book  of  Ex- 
odus and  those  portions  of  ancient  history  assigned 
by  capable  historians  to  the  mythological  periods. 
In  no  single  instance  do  the  writers  of  those  histo- 
ries claim  that  they  record  what  they  themselves 
saw ;  or  even  the  occurrences  of  their  own  age  or 
land.  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  indulge  in  exaggera- 
tion, when  writing  of  ages  long  past,  known  to  us 
only  by  dim  traditions,  and  magnified  in  their  im- 
portance by  a  spirit  of  national  pride.  But  no 
instance  can  be  pointed  out,  of  a  man's  writing  the 
history  of  his  own  times,  which  was  received  by 
his  own  people,  and  handed  down  to  succeeding 
times  as  true,  when  really  he  had  not  given,  in  the 
main,  a  fair  statement  of  the  case.  That  Moses 
wrote  this  history  during  the  life-time  of  thousands 
who  saw  the  events  he  has  recorded;  and  espe- 
cially that  his  history  is  in  no  wise  flattering  to  the 
Jewish  people  in  whose  care  he  left  it,  should  suf- 
fice to  free  these  historical  records  from  any 
charge  of  exaggeration. 

2d.  The  very  fact  that  these  miracles  wrought 
in  Egypt  possess  a  natural,  rather  than  an  un- 
natural, aspect  is  a  valid  argument  to  support  the 
claim  that  they  were  the  results  of  Divine  power 
and  wisdom.  We  have  before  noticed  the  tendency 
of  false  wonders  to  be  rather  prodigies  and  mon- 
sters than  miracles.  The  miracles  of  the  Scrip- 
tures are  supernatural  but  not  w/inatural.  That 
God   should  use   the  phenomena  with  which  the 


THE  EAKLIER  PLAGUES  UPON  EGYPT.    187 

Egyptians  were  already  acquainted  to  scourge 
their  rebellion  and  wickedness,  is  better  evidence 
of  his  interposition,  than  if  the  narrative  related 
things  entirely  beyond  the  sphere  of  their  acquaint- 
ance. 

3d.  There  are  sufficient  proofs  that  these  events, 
though  analogous  to  natural  events,  were  still  mi- 
raculous. This  proof  arises  from  the  time  of  their 
coming  and  going,  so  evidently  at  the  bidding  of 
Moses:  from  their  so  wonderfully  exceeding  the 
effects  which  natural  causes  alone  could  produce: 
from  the  attendant  circumstances,  which  can  be 
ascribed  only  to  the  Divine  interposition :  and 
from  the  singular  fact,  that  the  Israelites,  though 
dwelling  in  the  same  land,  were  exempted  from  the 
curse  of  the  severest  plagues.  When  not  only 
these  events  occur  as  Moses  bade,  but  when  he 
even  allows  the  king  himself  to  choose  the  time  of 
their  removal;*  when  the  Nile  becomes  loathsome, 
and  unheard  of  swarms  of  reptiles  and  insects 
come  in  such  rapid  succession;  when  the  arts  of 
the  magicians  fail,  and  they  also  must  recognize 
the  finger  of  God,  and  even  are  unable  to  free 
themselves  from  suffering  with  the  other  Egyptians, 
Ex.  ix.  11;  when  the  Israelites  are  so  separated 
from  the  Egyptians ;.  and  when  the  Egyptians 
themselves  no  longer  feel  such  plagues  as  soon  as 
the  contest  is  ended  between  Pharaoh  and  Moses; 
the  entire  truthfulness  of  the  nai-rative  can  alone 

*  Shuckford,  ii.  232. 


188  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

be  made  to  consist  with  the  design  of  the  record. 
To  destroy  the  miraculous  nature  of  these  transac- 
tions is  to  stultify  the  whole  narrative. 

4th.  To  all  which  we  may  briefly  add,  that  the 
principal  objectors  of  modern  times  to  the  credibility 
of  the  Scriptural  miracles  have  succeeded  only  in 
proposing  theories  more  perplexing  than  the  simple 
belief  of  Divine  interposition  for  ends  so  important. 
If  it  be  possible  to  explain  some  of  the  miracles 
as  strange  events,  not  supernatural,  yet  to  attempt 
this  explanation  of  all  would  be  to  exhibit  an  ag- 
gregate of  natural  things,  exceedingly  strange  in 
themselves ;  yet  not  thought  either  natural  or 
strange  in  this  sense,  by  those  who  witnessed  them ; 
and  still  no  good  reason  assigned  for  their  occur- 
rence or  record  in  this  connection;  the  whole  his- 
tory, if  Divine  interposition  be  stricken  out,  being 
aimless  and  incongruous;  to  use  the  trite  illustra- 
tion, the  play  of  Hamlet,  Hamlet  himself  omitted. 
Or  if  again  we  look  at  the  theory  of  myths,  how 
can  we  explain  the  reception  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
as  the  Jewish  Messiah?  His  cotemporary  disci- 
ples must  have  known  whether  he  did  or  did  not 
work  miracles,  and  otherwise  fulfil  the  Old  Testa- 
ment predictions  of  the  Christ.  Wonders  increase 
rather  than  diminish,  if  we  must  believe  that  they 
first  gave  up  all  their  Jewish  ideas  to  become  this 
man's  disciples,  and  then  gradually  formed  their 
conceptions  "of  him  and  expressed  in  the  gospels 
what  the  great  Teacher  should  have  done. 


THE  EARLIER  PLAGUES  UPON  EGYPT.    189 

We  speak  indiscriminately  of  Old  and  New 
Testament  miracles;  for  if  either  be  true,  both  are. 
The  first  miracle  of  judgment  upon  the  Egyp- 
tians was  the  turning  of  the  Nile  to  a  river  of 
blood.  This  sight  of  horror  should  at  once  have 
gained  the  consent  of  the  proud  king  that  Israel 
should  go  forth  from  the  land.  The  esteem  in 
which  the  Egyptians  have  ever  held  the  Nile,  it  is 
hard  for  us  to  realize.  That  noble  river,  flowing 
to  them  from  the  distant  interior  of  their  continent, 
not  only  beautified  the  land,  but  was  the  chief 
source  of  its  unparalleled  fertility.  Rain  seldom 
falls  in  Egypt;  the  overflowings  of  the  river  is 
their  only  dependence  for  watering  the  soil;  and 
they  determine  the  prospects  of  their  crops  from 
the  height  of  the  inundation.  The  water  of  the 
Nile  also  has  long  been  celebrated  for  its  excel- 
lence, for  drinking.  Not  only  is  it  almost  the  only 
water  in  Egypt  fit  to  drink ;  but  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  are  extravagant  in  their  praises  of  it : 
when  absent  from  home,  they  talk  much  of  the 
pleasure  of  drinking  the  Nile  water  upon  their 
return ;  the  Turks  enjoy  it  so  much  that  they 
eat  salt  to  provoke  a  greater  thirst;  and  it  is  a 
common  saying  among  them,  that  if  Mohammed 
had  tasted  the  Nile  water,  he  woiild  have  prayed 
for  an  earthly  immortality  that  he  might  drink  it 
for  ever.* 

The  Nile    also   was    a   god   to    the   Egyptians. 

*  Kurtz's  Hist.  Old  Covenant,  ii.  273. 


100  THE    IlEBllEW    LAWUlVEll. 

Their  monuments  call  it  the  god  Nile,  the  life-giv- 
ing father  of  all  that  exists.  Upon  this  venerated 
river  came  the  first  of  the  judgments  by  which 
Moses  scourged  the  land.  And  this  judgment  was 
two-fold. 

1st.  It  avenged  the  cruelty  of  the  Egyptians 
towards  Israel.  Into  this  sacred  stream  the  Egyp- 
tians had  ruthlessly  cast  the  babes  of  Israel  ; 
eighty  years  ago  this  same  Moses  had  himself  been 
subject  to  this  sanguinary  edict,  and  owed  his 
strange  preservation  to  the  care  of  Israel's  cove- 
nant God:  and  as  they  themselves  had  dofikMl  its 
stream  with  innocent  blood,  the  prophet  stretches 
his  rod  over  it  to  repay  their  cruelty  by  this  fear- 
ful plague. 

2d.  Thus  their  idolatry  was  rebuked.  Even 
their  gods  met  with  the  judgments  of  him,  who 
proves  himself  the  Lord  in  the  land.  The  pride 
of  Egypt  rolls  before  them  a  pestilential  flood  ; 
they  must  dig  in  the  earth  for  water  to  quench 
their  thirst;  even  their  magicians  have  power  only 
to  make  the  matter  worse,  and  are  unable  to  re- 
move the  curse  from  the  Nile,  or  to  make  a  portion 
of  its  waters  fit  to  drink.  If  we  suppose,  with 
some  interpreters,  that  the  seven  days  named, 
refer  to  the  length  of  time  that  elapsed  between 
the  first  and  the  second  judgments,  then  we  cannot 
decide  how  long  this  wonder  lasted.  Yet  it  was 
long  enough  to  show  the  reality  of  the  miracle ; 
and  the  dying  of  the  fish  in   the  river,  and  the 


THE    EARLIEK    PLAflUES    UPON    EOYPT.        191 

loathsomeness  of  the  water,  seemed  sufficiently  to 
distinguish  this,  from  the  mere  discolouring  of  the 
annual  flood. 

As  frogs  abound  in  the  marshy  borders  of  the 
Nile,  an  extraordinary  increase  of  these  reptiles 
formed  the  second  plague.  As  a  frog-headed  god 
and  goddess  are  found  among  the  Egyptian  di- 
vinities, we  may  justly  regard  this  also  as  a  pun- 
ishment for  their  idolatry ;  and  they  are  troubled 
by  their  own  gods.  The  innumerable  hordes  of 
frogs,  coming  up  upon  everything,  filling  up  every 
place,  defiling  their  very  beds  and  their  food,  must 
have  been  greatly  distressing  and  disgusting. 
The  ovens  of  the  Egyptians  were  merely  small 
holes  in  the  ground,  filled  with  their  scanty  fuel, 
■where  they  baked  for  a  single  meal  in  an  earthen 
vessel ;  and  these  would  of  course  be  filled  with 
these  active  reptiles.  We  need  not  be  surprised 
that  the  magicians  imitated  this  infliction ;  the 
slightest  skill  in  jugglery  could  produce  frogs 
when  the  land  was  so  full  of  them.  It  is  a  more 
surprising  thing,  that  when  Moses  allowed  Pha- 
raoh to  fix  his  own  time  for  the  removal  of  this 
curse,  he  should  be  willing  to  wait  until  the  next 
day.  We  would  think  in  such  a  case,  the  sooner 
the  better.  But  perhaps  the  stern  king  hoped 
that  even  this  curse  was  from  some  natural  cause: 
and  that  perhaps  the  frogs  would  depart  at  some 
difl'erent  time  and  of  themselves,  to  the  discomfit- 
ure of  the  Jewish  prophets. 


192  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Many  learned  interpreters  understand  that  the 
next  plague  was  not  lice^  but  gnats,  or  mosquitoes. 
These  insects  greatly  abound  in  Egypt,  and  are 
mentioned  by  Herodotus,  who  also  mentions  the 
mosquito  bars  of  the  ancient  inhabitants.*  It  is 
said  that,  without  exception,  the  irritation  of  the 
sting  of  the  mosquito-gnat  is  the  most  intolerable 
of  insect  plagues. f  This  miracle  the  magicians 
could  not  even  imitate.  'They  acknowledged  the 
finger  of  God,  retired  from  the  unequal  contest, 
and  appear  no  more  in  these  scenes,  except  as 
afterwards  they  also  become  sufferers,  and  are 
unable  to  relieve  even  their  own  persons  from  the 
judgments  which  Moses  pronounces. 

The  fourth  plague  is  remarkable  for  the  exemp- 
tion given  from  this  time  forward  to  the  children 
of  Israel.  In  this  is  distinctly  marked  the  design 
of  all  these  judgments,  to  vindicate  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  deliver  his  people  from  bondage. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  these  judg- 
ments to  give  exemption  to  the  land  of  Goshen. 
The  lightning  might  strike  there  as  well  as  upon 
the  Egyptians ;  the  winged  plagues  might  easily 
cross  the  Nile  to  them ;  and  there  was  great 
significance  in  their  lighted  dwellings  while  all 
Egypt  groped  through  that  preternatural  dark- 
ness. It  is  no  wonder  that  the  heart  of  Pharaoh 
at  times  relented,  and   that  he   seemed  half  dis- 

*  ii.  §  95.     Yet  our  nets  are  finer  to  secure  the  end. 
t  Bush. 


THE    EARLIER    PLAGUES    UPON    EGYPT.        193 

posed  to  yield  the  contest.  Yet  with  amazing  for- 
titude in  a  cause  so  bad  and  hopeless,  he  still  re- 
fused to  let  Israel  go,  until  the  popular  will  could 
no  longer  be  repressed,  even  by  the  power  of  an 
absolute  sovereign ;  and  Moses  and  his  people  went 
forth  from  the  land  in  triumph. 

Vol.  i._17 


194  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

LOCUSTS  AND  JDAMKNESS. 

"  Onward  they  come,  a  dark  continuous  cloud 

Of  congregated  myriads  numberless ; 
The  rushing  of  whose  wings  was  as  the  sound 

Of  some  broad  river,  headlong  in  its  course, 
Plunged  from  a  mountain  summit ;  or  the  roar 

Of  the  wild  ocean  in  the  autumnal  storm 
Shattering  its  billows  on  a  shore  of  rocks." 

SOUTHEY. 

In  our  version  of  tlie  Scriptures  the  fourth  plague 
upon  Egypt  is  said  to  be  swarms  of  flies.  Yet  with 
their  characteristic  fidelity  the  translators  mark  the 
ambiguity  of  the  original  by  italicising  the  words 
^^  of  flies;"  thus  denoting  the  absence  of  the  words 
in  the  original.  In  Ps.  Ixxviii.  45,  the  same  word 
is  rendered  "divers  sorts  of  flies."*  Interpreters 
are  divided  in  sentiment  respecting  the  creatures 
really  meant.  The  Jewish  writers  generally  sup- 
pose that  a  mixed  multitude  of  creatures  is  meant. 
Others  suppose  that  they  were  creeping  insects,  as 
they  are  said  to  be  upon  the  ground.  Ex.  viii.  21. 
Especially  they  regard  this  plague  as  a  visita- 
tion of  the  scarabseus  or  sacred  beetle,  which  was 

*  So  the  Douay  here. 


LOCUSTS    AND    DARKNESS.  195 

among  the  sacred  emblems  of  the  Egyptians.  Fig- 
ures of  this  sacred  insect  are  found,  cut  upon  their 
ancient  tombs,  and  sometimes  with  Lieroglj^phic 
descriptions.  Even  their  embalmed  bodies  have  been 
discovered  at  Thebes.  A  remarkable  colossal  fig- 
ure of  this  beetle,  cut  out  of  a  block  of  green  gran- 
ite, is  now  placed  in  the  British  Museum.  But  in 
regard  to  this  fourth  plague  Dr.  J.  A.  Alexander 
says,  "The  best  interpreters  are  now  agreed  that  it 
means  the  Egyptian  dog-fly,  which  Philo  represents 
as  feeding  upon  flesh  and  blood."*  The  plague 
was  so  severely  felt  that  Pharaoh  made  some  con- 
cession to  the  demands  of  Moses,  even  agreeing  to 
let  the  people  go,  "not  very  far  away;"  and  thus 
secured  the  removal  of  the  evil.f 

Plagues  were  now  sent  upon  the  cattle  of  the 
Egyptians;  then  upon  their  persons;  then  upon 
their  growing  crops.  In  sufi*ering  these,  the  king 
vacillated;  now  almost  led  to  endure  these  things 
no  longer ;  now  proudly  resolving  still  to  resist. 
When   Moses    therefore    openly   declared    that    a 

*  On  Ps.  Ixxviii.  45. 

f  In  the  London  Athengeum  lately,  there  was  a  notice  of  some 
beautiful  Egyptian  jewelry,  open  at  the  London  International  Ex- 
hibition, taken  from  a  tomb  at  Gournah  by  M.  Mariette  in  1859. 
Among  other  articles  was  "  a  collar  of  gold,  having  depending  from 
it  three  flies  of  solid  gold.  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  is  the  dec- 
oration of  the  ancient  Egyptian  honorary  Order  of  the  Fly,  whose 
origin  is  unknown."  Perhaps  the  "Order"  is  an  offspring  of  an 
antiquary's  fruitful  imagination :  but  the  relic  proves  that  the  fly 
was  reverenced,  as  the  other  ornaments  described  are  symbols  of 
their  idolatry. 


196  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

flight  of  locusts  should  come  up,  more  disastrous 
than  had  ever  been  known  in  their  past  history, 
the  servants  of  Pharaoh,  aware  by  experience  that 
the  words  of  Moses  would  be  fulfilled,  and  fearing 
for  the  utter  des'truction  of  Egypt,  joined  to  en- 
treat the  king  that  he  would  let  the  people  go. 
The  haughty  monarch  sought  another  compromise, 
by  allowing  the  men  to  go,  and  retaining  the  women 
as  hostages  for  their  return.  But  Moses  firmly 
declared  that  they  should  go  forth  with  everything, 
women,  children,  and  cattle.  And  he  was  driven 
forth  from  the  presence  of  Pharaoh. 

All  authorities  join  to  declare  the  wonderful 
destruction  and  desolation  that  follow  the  devasta- 
tions of  a  cloud  of  locusts.  The  astonishing  num- 
bers in  which  these  insects  fly,  the  noise  they  make 
as  they  devour  every  green  thing,  and  the  misera- 
ble condition  to  which  they  reduce  a  flourishing 
country,  every  writer  declares.  They  are  doubt- 
less the  most  formidable  insects  in  the  world. 
The  prophet  Joel  describes  them  in  language  ex- 
ceedingly graphic  and  terrific,  "A  fire  devoureth 
before  them,  and  behind  them  a  flame  burneth :  the 
la,nd  is  as  the  garden  of  Eden  before  them,  and 
behind  them  a  desolate  wilderness ;  yea  and  noth- 
ing shall  escape  them.  The  appearance  of  them  is 
as  the  appearance  of  horses,  and  as  horsemen 
so  shall  they  run.  Like  the  noise  of  chariots  on 
the  tops  of  mountains  shall  they  leap,  like  the  noise 
of  a  flame  of  fire  that  devoureth  the  stubble,  as  a 


LOCUSTS   AND    DARKNESS.  197 

strong  people  set  in  battle  array.  Before  their  face 
the  people  shall  be  much  pained:  all  faces  shall 
gather  blackness.  They  shall  run  Rke  mighty 
men,  they  shall  climb  the  wall  like  men  of  war; 
and  they  shall  march  every  one  on  his  ways.  .  .  . 
They  shall  run  to  and  fro  in  the  city ;  .  .  .  they  shall 
climb  up  upon  the  houses ;  they  shall  enter  in  at 
the  windows  like  a  thief."  Joel  ii.  3 — 9. 

How  remarkably  like  this  Scriptural  description 
are  the  words  of  the  French  infidel,  Volney. 
"One  would  imagine,"  he  writes,  "that  fire  had 
followed  their  progress.  Wherever  their  myriads 
spread,  the  verdure  of  the  country  disappears; 
trees  and  plants  stripped  of  their  leaves,  and  re- 
duced to  their  naked  boughs  and  stems,  cause  the 
dreary  image  of  winter  to  succeed  in  an  instant  to 
the  rich  scenery  of  spring."*  And  he  speaks  of 
the  heavens  being  literally  obscured  with  their 
flight.  Other  writers  and  travellers  give  similar 
statements.  Barrow  states  that  in  Southern  Africa 
the  ground  was  covered  with  them  to  an  area  of 
2000  square  miles;  and  that  the  water  of  a  very 
wide  river  was  scarcely  visible  for  the  floating  car- 
casses.f  Such  inconceivable  numbers  often  breed 
pestilence  by  the  stench  arising  from  their  dead 
bodies.  Augustine  says  that  800,000  people  in 
Numidia  were  carried  off  by  a  pestilence  having 
such  an  origin; J  and  many  more  in  the  neighbour- 

*  Bush,  Ex.  X.  13.  f  Encyclopedia  Americana. 

X  Decivitate  Dei,  lib.  iii.  ch.  xxxi. 
17  * 


198  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

ing  coasts;  and  even  in  modern  history  in  the  Ve- 
nitian  territories  in  1487,  30,000  perished  by  a 
plague  that  followed  a  visitation  of  locusts.*  In 
1748  these  locusts  came  into  Europe  as  far  north 
as  Germany,  France  and  even  England;  but  they 
perished  in  a  short  time  and  without  doing  any 
very  serious  injury. 

So  serious  is  the  plague  of  locusts  esteemed  in 
the  Sacred  volume,  that  the  Saracenic  conquests 
are,  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  compared  to  the 
coming  of  a  cloud  of  locusts  to  desolate  the  earth. 
Rev.  ix. 

We  are  not  surprised  then  that  the  king  hastened 
to  call  Moses  and  Aaron,  when  such  a  visitation  as 
this  came  upon  the  land.  And  the  deliverance 
was  great.  He  had  too  good  reason  to  fear  that  a 
pestilence  would  follow  the  destruction  which  he 
now  witnessed;  and  that  the  worst  of  the  plague 
therefore  was  still  to  come.  But  mercy  was 
shown,  even  to  him  who  had  been  so  rebellious. 
A  strong  wind  took  up  these  clouds  of  locusts,  and 
bore  them  away  from  Egypt,  and  cast  them  into 
the  Red  Sea.  But  though  Egypt  was  thus  spared 
from  the  entire  judgment  of  the  plague  of  locusts, 
the  king  was  no  sooner  delivered  from  his  appre- 
hensions, than  he  forgot  his  confessions  of  sin  and 
his  promises  of  amendment;  and  dared  still  to 
rebel  against  the  God  of  Israel. 

The  next  plague  was  significant  of  the  difierence 

*  Scottish  Chn.  Herald,  i.  28.     See  Land  and  Book,  ii.  102,  seq. 


4  LOCUSTS   AND    DARKNESS.      •  199 

between  Egypt  and  Israel  rather  than  in  itself  so 
hard  to  bear.  A  gross  and  dense  darkness  covered 
all  the  land  of  Egypt,  so  that  no  man  could  stir 
abroad,  and  perhaps  so  dense  and  damp  vapours 
accompanied  it,  that  the  ordinary  fire  and  lights 
could  not  be  kindled  in  their  houses.  So  the 
apocryphal  book  of  Wisdom  says  they  were  fright- 
ened with  visions,  and  monsters  and  indeed  every 
natural  sound  tortured  them  with  fear;  and  no 
power  of  fire  could  give  them  light.  But  even  if 
these  things  were  not  so,  it  was  in  most  significant 
contrast,  that  all  the  land  of  Goshen  was  still  in 
the  light. 

If  we  esteem  this  dreadful  darkness  as  a  natural 
phenomenon,  miraculous  only  in  its  time  and  pur- 
pose and  severity,  we  may  regard  it  as  the  blowing 
of  the  Khamsin,  or  Egyptian  Sirocco;  the  horrors 
of  which  are  described  by  many  travellers.  This 
however  is  a  dry  wind.  Some  declare  that  during 
its  prevalence  the  people  are  obliged  to  shut  them- 
selves up  in  their  houses  and  even  in  cellars;  and 
Rosenmueller  in  his  commentary  cites  accounts 
from  the  middle  ages  according  to  which  the 
Khamsin  covered  Egypt  with  such  dense  dark- 
ness "  that  every  one  thought  the  last  day  was  at 
hand."*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Robinson  of 
New  York  experienced  the  efi'ects  of  one  of  these 
Khamsins,  in  passing  through  Arabia,  but  it  was 
of  short  duration,  and  he  speaks  of  it  as  resembling 

«  Kurtz's  Old  Gov.,  ii.  287. 


200  ■     THE   HEBREW    LAWGIVER.  ^ 

the  Khamsin.  The  wind  "blew  a  perfect  tem- 
pest. The  atmosphere  was  filled  with  fine  par- 
ticles of  sand,  forming  a  bluish  haze;  the  sun 
was  scarcely  visible,  his  disk  exhibiting  only  a 
dim  and  sickly  hue;  and  the  glow  of  the  wind 
came  upon  our  faces  as  from  a  burning  oven. 
Often  we  could  not  see  ten  rods  around  us ;  and 
our  eyes,  ears,  mouths  and  clothes  were  filled  with 
sand."*  He  says  he  can  well  conceive  that  such 
a  "horrible  tempest"  might  prove  fatal  to  a 
traveller  previously  feeble  and  exhausted.  But 
if  this  wind  accompanied  the  darkness  of  Egypt, 
still  the  miraculous  nature  of  such  a  gloom  was 
sufficiently  plain.  And  here,  as  before,  dishon- 
our is  thrown  upon  the  Egyptian  gods.  They 
called  their  kings  Pharaoh,  deriving  this  from 
Phrah,  the  sun.  For  the  sun  was  esteemed  by 
them  "not  only  one  of  the  grandest  works  but 
one  of  the  direct  agents  of  the  Deity  ;"t  they 
attributed  to  him  even  a  "participation  of  the 
Divine  essence;"  and  the  king  bore  his  name, 
because  he  was  the  emblem  of  the  god  of  light, 
and  derived  his  royal  authority  directly  from 
the  gods.  But  now  a  god,  so  much  worshipped 
by  them,  with  ofierings  of  incense  three  times 
a  day,  withholds  his  light  from  them;  yet  shines 
with  undiminished  splendour  upon  the  dwellings 
of  Goshen. 

*  Biblical  Researches,  ii.  288. 

f  Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  i.  328. 


LOCUSTS   AND    DARKNESS.  201- 

While  then  there  does  not  seem  to  be  so  much 
of  severity  in  this  plague  of  darkness  as  in  some 
of  those  that  preceded  it,  we  find  the  king  ready 
again  to  offer  a  compromise  to  the  Jewish  proph- 
ets. He  even  sent  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 
gave  his  consent  that  they  and  also  their  families 
might  go ;  yet  unwilling  to  make  a  surrender 
at  discretion,  he  refuses  to  allow  that  they  shall 
take  their  herds  of  cattle.  But  now  Moses  makes 
terms  not  hitherto  proposed.  Rising  with  the 
consciousness  of  both  power  and  right,  he  demands 
that  all  shall  be  allowed  to  go;  and  that  Pha- 
raoh even  shall  give  them  burnt-offerings  and 
sacrifices.  To  this  Pharaoh  will  not  agree.  His 
anger  rose  above  any  previous  occasion ;  and  he 
drove  the  prophets  from  him,  forbidding  them 
ever  again  to  enter  his  presence  on  the  penalty  of 
death. 

During  all  this  time  the  demeanour  of  Moses 
had  been  calm,  dignified,  and  forbearing.  His 
appearance  doubtless  was  exceedingly  venerable. 
Though  a  vigorous  man,  for  forty  years  after  this 
time,  yet  he  was  even  now  over  eighty  years  of 
age:  and,  we  may  easily  imagine,  of  a  patriarchal 
presence.  With  all  the  power  he  exhibited  in 
Egypt,  there  is  no  indication  of  pride;  no  assump- 
tion of  honours  not  due  to  him.  But  now  the 
haughty  king  has  rejected  the  last  solemn  warning 
that  was  tempered  with  mercy.  After  any  of 
the  preceding  plagues,  his  relentings  would  have 


202  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

spared  Egypt.  Now  mercy  ceases  with  his  rude 
repulse  of  the  Lord's  messengers ;  and  Moses 
declares  that  in  obedience  to  his  word,  he  will 
see  his  face  no  more.  But  before  he  departs  from 
the  king's  presence,  he  addresses  him  with  that 
tone  of  lofty  and  righteous  indignation  which  the 
prophets  of  God  have  sometimes  used  towards  the 
incorrigible  in  wickedness.  He  declares  that  that 
very  night  the  first-born,  in  all  the  nation,  and 
even  in  the  palace,  shall  die;  that  lamentation 
shall  rise  throughout  all  the  land,  such  as  Egypt 
never  before  had  known ;  that  the  Israelites  shall 
be  wholly  exempt  from  this  last  and  most  fearful 
stroke;  and  that  now,  forbidden  to  see  the  face  of 
the  king,  they  should  neither  condescend  nor  need 
to  ask  permission  to  leave  the  land.  The  closing 
scene  of  the  great  contest  in  the  wild  uproar  of  the 
Red  Sea's  waves  he  does  not  as  yet  mention;  but 
he  declares  that  the  Egyptians  shall  come  and  bow 
down  before  him,  and  urge  him  and  the  entire  peo- 
ple speedily  to  get  forth  from  the  land. 


Pharaoh's  hardened  heart.     203 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

rSJLBAOM>8  HAItDENED  SEAJtT. 

"  How  loug  may  we  go  on  in  sin  ? 

How  long  will  God  forbear? 
Where  does  hope  end ;  and  where  begin 

The  confines  of  despair?" 

The  mysteries  of  the  universe  are  innumerable. 
And  in  the  experience  of  every  thoughtful  man 
these  increase  in  numbers  and  in  perplexity  as  he 
grows  in  knowledge.  There  is  a  sense  indeed  in 
which  knowledge  is  the  solving  of  mysteries ;  but 
the  solution  of  one  dilB&culty  is  effected  by  creating 
or  revealing  more  and  greater  perplexities.  The 
strange  things  which  puzzled  us  in  childhood,  we 
now  understand;  but  stranger  things  puzzle  us 
now  than  then.  We  never  thought  at  all  in  our 
youthful  days  of  the  things  which  now  seem  mys- 
terious; and  those  things  which  through  our  in- 
creasing knowledge  have  ceased  to  perplex  us, 
have  with  their  loss  of  mystery  lost  also  the  power 
to  interest  our  minds.  After  all,  mystery  is  but 
another  name  for  ignorance;  and  so  long  as  some 
things  remain  unknown  to  us,  mysteries  cannot 
cease.     There  is  but  One  Mind  in  the  universe  to 


204  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

which  nothing  is  mysterious ;  for  but  One  is  infi- 
nite in  wisdom  and  knowledge.  Finite  minds 
however  high  their  capacities,  or  however  large 
their  knowledge,  cannot  fully  know  God,  his  ways 
or  his  works ;  and  so  must  ever  find  knowledge  to 
acquire,  and  mysteries  to  solve.  In  this  lower 
world,  we  see  more  dimly  than  we  shall  hereafter. 
And  yet  even  our  perplexities  are  not  without 
their  use.  If  we  are  wise  enough  not  to  spend 
our  strength  upon  impracticable  things,  the  very  dif- 
ficulties that  attend  the  pursuit  of  wisdom  may 
awaken  our  energies  to  overcome  them.  It  may 
indeed  be  carrying  the  matter  quite  too  far  to  say, 
with  some  of  the  wise  men  of  the  world,  that  our 
searchings  for  truth  are  better  than  the  actual 
possession  of  truth  ;*  but  doubtless  many  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  world  around  us  are  designed  to 
lead  us  to  an  humble  faith  in  that  ever-blessed  God, 
whom  our  highest  searchings  cannot  find  out ;  and 
many  are  intended  to  animate  our  activity  in 
pressing  eagerly  after  that  knowledge  which  seems 
only  larger  and  more  desirable  when  we  have 
gained  the  most  of  it. 

Scarcely  any  more  remarkable  or  instructive 
example  of  the  dreadful  strength  and  influence 
which  sin  may  gain  over  the  heart  of  man,  can  be 
found  in  all  the  history  of  the  race,  than  we  have 
here  brought  before  us.  See  the  king  of  Egypt 
resisting  the  plagues  sent  upon  his  land,  and  refus- 

*•  See  Sir  Wm.  Hamilton's  Lectures,  Lect.  I.,  p.  7 — 9. 


Pharaoh's  harueneu  heart.     205 

ing  to  let  Israel  go.  As  the  Scriptures  expressly 
declare  that  God  raised  up  Pharaoh  to  show  his 
power,  and  to  declare  his  name  through  all  the 
earth;  and  as  the  Apostle  Paul  brings  his  case 
plainly  before  us,  as  an  example  of  the  Divine 
Sovereignty,  Ex.  ix.  16,  Rom.  ix.  17,  so  it  is  our 
wisdom  to  learn  from  this  case,  how  dreadful  is 
our  God,  and  how  fearful  and  how  foolish  it  is  for 
man  to  stand  in  rebellion  against  him. 

The  Bible  is  remarkable  for  this,  that  its  doctri- 
nal statements  are  made  in  the  plainest  language, 
and  that  its  illustrations  are  as  strong  as  any  that 
can  possibly  arise  in  the  history  of  man.  No  man 
can  teach  the  doctrine  of  God's  sovereignty  more 
plainly  than  we  have  it  taught  here ;  and  no  illus- 
trations can  be  more  in  point  to  show  the  sinful- 
ness of  man  in  doing  the  predetermined  counsel  of 
God  than  are  afforded  by  Pharaoh,  and  Judas,  and 
the  crucifiers  of  the  Messiah.  If  we  can  reconcile 
the  plain  and  Scriptural  examples  with  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Divine  government,  and  with  the  entire 
freedom  even  of  sinful  man,  we  need  not  be  per- 
plexed with  any  of  the  practical  difficulties  that 
occur  in  any  passing  events  of  Providence. 

There  are  two  aspects  in  which  the  government 
of  God  over  men  is  presented  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. In  the  first  of  these  aspects  it  is  unlimited 
and  absolute.  He  doeth  according  to  his  will  and 
pleasure;  he  taketh  counsel  of  none;  he  hath 
mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy;  he  hardeneth 

Vol.  I.— 18 


206  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

whom  he  will;  and  from  the  very  perfection  of 
that  nature  to  which  all  things  lie  naked  and  open, 
his  purposes  are  like  himself,  eternal  and  un- 
changeable. If  any  ruler  can  be  of  absolute  and 
unlimited  authority,  such  a  government  pertains  to 
God.  But  in  the  second  aspect  of  the  Divine  gov- 
ernment it  is  a  limited  sovereignty ;  and  this  in 
such  a  sense  as  to  add  infinitely  to  its  glory  and 
excellency.  The  sovereignty  of  God  is  bounded, 
not  by  anything  in  his  creatures;  but  by  the  per- 
fections of  his  own  character.  The  Scriptures 
reckon  it  among  his  excellencies  that  there  are 
things  he  cannot  do.  He  does  his  will ;  but 
that  will  is  not  capricious  or  arbitrary ;  it  is 
ever  wise,  true,  holy  and  just.  So  he  cannot  lie; 
cannot  himself  be  tempted  to  evil ;  cannot  tempt 
any  man  to  sin ;  cannot  deny  the  infinite  per- 
fections of  his  own  character.  It  is  not  weak- 
ness, but  strength  and  perfection  in  our  glorious 
God,  that  lead  him  ever  to  govern  himself  by  prin- 
ciples of  truth  and  righteousness.  He  is  absolute 
and  free  ;  because  he  is  under  the  control  of  none ; 
because  he  does  his  own  pleasure;  and  yet  we 
have  the  highest  possible  assurance  that  infinite 
wisdom  and  righteousness  and  truth  belong  to  all 
he  is,  and  to  all  he  does. 

The  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  Divine  sover- 
eignty is  expressly  placed  in  full  harmony  with 
the  Divine  righteousness.  And  so  when  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  teaches  us  this  doctrine  in  explicit  terms. 


Pharaoh's  hardened  heart.  207 

he  as  explicitly  disavows  that  his  language  implies 
unrighteousness  in  God.  Rom.  ix.  14.  It  cannot 
indeed  be  denied  that  the  mercy  of  God  could 
have  been  exercised  towards  the  king  of  Egypt; 
but  neither  can  it  be  claimed  that  the  Divine  recti- 
tude demanded  the  exercise  of  such  mercy.  These 
things  are  expressly  true,  that  in  all  his  dealings 
with  Pharaoh,  God  did  not  tempt  him  to  evil,  by 
exciting  evil  passions,  or  infusing  evil  principles; 
he  did  not  interfere  with  the  exercise  of  his  free 
will,  or  destroy  his  accountability;  but  enduring 
and  forbearing  with  his  wilful  and  stubborn  rebel- 
lion, he  allowed  him  to  go  to  the  utmost  limits  of 
human  iniquity,  as  an  example  to  all  subsequent 
ages,  that  no  man  can  harden  his  heart  against 
God  and  prosper.  After  Pharaoh,  who  would  not 
fear  to  harden  his  heart  in  sin;  after  Pharaoh,  let 
every  man  know  the  folly  and  danger  of  resisting 
God. 

The  heart  of  man  is  said  to  be  hardened  when 
he  is  indifferent  to  those  things  which  ought  to 
interest  and  impress  him.  In  common  language 
we  speak  of  a  man  who  can  commit  crimes  without 
remorse  as  a  hardened  wretch.  When  feelings  do 
not  rise,  which  naturally  should  arise,  the  heart  is 
hard.  This  indifference  almost  invariably  springs 
from  long  indulged  iniquity;  so  that  it  is  proper 
for  us  to  say  that  the  hardening  of  the  heart  of 
man  is  the  constant  result  of  instructions  despised 
and  duty  neglected.     It  is  impossible  for  any  man 


208  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

to  know  his  duty  and  refuse  to  do  it,  without  a 
growing  insensibility  on  his  part  to  its  claims  upon 
him.  We  do  not  understand  that  God  hardened 
the  heart  of  Pharaoh  by  exerting  upon  him  any 
such  power  as  rendered  his  mind  more  obdurate; 
very  certainly,  not  to  affect  in  any  wise  the  volun- 
tary agency  of  the  wicked  king.  But  as  on  the 
one  hand  he  withheld  from  him  those  influences  of 
Divine  grace  which  he  ever  gives  according  to  his 
own  good  pleasure;  so  on  the  other,  he  permitted 
him  to  choose  his  own  ways  of  evil,  and  gave  him 
up  to  the  influence  of  his  own  wicked  heart.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  the  two  expressions  "the 
Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,"  ch.  x.  27,  and 
Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  heart,  viii.  32,  are  both 
used  as  meaning  the  same  thing.  God  is  often 
said  to  do  what  he  permits  to  be  done;  and  even 
the  very  same  thing  is,  in  the  Scriptures,  ascribed 
both  to  Satan  and  to  God.  See  2  Sam.  xxiv.  1, 
and  1  Chron.  xxi.  1.  And  it  is  abundantly  plain 
in  the  Bible  that  God  threatens  to  forsake  men,  if 
they  sin  against  him;  and  that  when  they  do  not 
like  to  retain  him  in  their  knowledge,  he  gives 
them  up  to  their  own  ways. 

These  two  lessons  every  reader  of  the  Bible 
should  learn  of  Pharaoh. 

First.  That  salvation  is  of  God's  free  grace. 
He  is  bound  to  none.  He  has  mercy  on  whom  he 
will  have  mercy.  That  ye  may  know  that  the 
Lord  doth  put  a  difference  between  the  Egyptians 


Pharaoh's  hardened  heart.  209 

and  Israel.  This  doctrine  runs  through  all  the 
Scriptures.  Salvation  is  of  grace.  So  every  man, 
who  desires  God's  favour,  should  humbly  seek  his 
face.  Many  persons  seem  to  think  that  if  salva- 
tion is  purely  of  grace,  there  is  neither  need,  pro- 
priety, nor  encouragement  to  seek  God's  favour. 
So  the  Scriptures  do  not  teach  us.  They  do  in- 
deed tell  us  of  men  converted  to  God  by  free  and 
sovereign  grace,  when  they  were  careless  of  him, 
and  never  thought  of  looking  for  him.  God  can 
change  a  persecuting  Saul  into  a  preaching  Paul ; 
and  can  say  of  many,  "I  am  found  of  them  that 
sought  me  not."  Isa.  Ixv.  1.  We  rejoice  in  tHat 
grace  that  can  so  arrest  the  thoughtless  sinner. 
But  it  is  no  less  grace,  when  God  gives  mercy 
which  sinners  seek  with  tears  and  prayers.  If 
I  help  one  poor  man  who  does  not  ask  me,  and 
another  poor  man  who  does  ask  me,  it  may  surely 
be  true  charity  to  both!  So  "God  is  often  found 
of  those  that  seek  him  not,  but  he  is  always  found 
of  those  that  seek  him."  How  often  is  the  record 
made,  "  This  poor  man  cried,  and  the  Lord  heard 
him."  Ps.  xxxiv.  6. 

That  salvation  is  of  grace  warns  us  not  to 
offend  that  God  upon  whose  mercy  we  are  de- 
pendent. If  dependent  upon  any  man,  would 
you  be  indifferent  whether  you  pleased  or  of- 
fended him  ?  Nor  is  it  possible  for  us  to  appreciate 
too  highly,  the  warnings  and  invitations  by  which 
God   encourages  us   to   seek   his   grace.      Every 

18  * 


210  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

exhortation  to  prayer  is  a  proof  that  his  grace 
may  be  sought ;  and  that  it  is  none  the  less  grace, 
when  he  grants  it  upon  our  humble  asking.  And 
the  grace  of  God  is  exercised  in  such  entire  con- 
sistency with  man's  nature,  that  our  voluntary 
powers  are  addressed ;  that  we  are  urged  to  em- 
brace his  promises  and  his  service ;  and  that  every 
subject  of  God's  grace  is  a  cheerful  and  willing 
subject. 

Secondly.  How  dangerous  a  thing  it  is,  for 
any  reason,  or  in  any  way,  to  rebel  against  God. 
Pharaol>  hardened  his  heart  against  judgments  in 
which  yet  were  mingled  many  proofs  of  God^s 
long-suffering  and  forbearance.  Every  token  of 
repentance  was  followed  by  the  removal  of  the 
plagues ;  and  new  judgments  were  sent  only  upon 
new  evidence  of  his  perverse  rebellion.  This  truth 
is  plain  upon  all  just  views  of  the  case,  that  God 
dealt  in  entire  righteousness  with  that  proud  mon- 
arch. We  may  freely  acknowledge  that  all  the 
doctrinal  and  practical  difficulties,  that  ever  gather 
about  the  subject  of  God's  dealings  with  the  sons 
of  men,  are  found  connected  with  this  example. 
Of  these  teachings  of  Moses  we  may  say,  as  the 
Apostle  Peter  says  of  like  teachings  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Paul,  "In  them  are  some  things  hard  to  be 
understood."  But  let  us  seriously  mark  what  the 
Apostle  adds,  that  only  "  the  unlearned  and  unsta- 
ble wrest"  these,  and  "to  their  own  destruction." 
2  Peter  iii.  16.     Not  the  legitimate  teachings  of 


PHARAOH'S  HARDENED  HEART.       211 

the  Scriptures  but  the  wresting  of  them,  and  this 
without  a  fair  understanding  of  them,  injures  men. 
And  the  end  is  their  own  destruction. 

But  this  thought  it  seems  important  for  every 
sinful  soul  to  ponder.  All  the  difficulties,  objec- 
tions and  cavils  that  men  have  ever  made  against 
God,  his  word,  or  his  dealings,  only  increase  the 
madness  of  those  who  dare  to  rebel  against  him. 
When  in  one  of  his  parables  our  blessed  Lord  al- 
lo^vs  a  servant  to  complain  against  God  as  a  hard 
Master,  he  enters  into  no  vindication ;  but  answers 
the  complainer  upon  his  own  terms — "  You  knew 
that  I  was  a  hard  Master.  Certainly  then  you 
are  without  excuse  for  disobeying  my  reasonable 
commands." 

Sinners  have  nothing  to  gain  by  their  hostility 
to  God.  To  neglect  his  mercies,  to  defy  his  judg- 
ments, to  rebel  against  his  commands,  to  delay  oiir 
obedience  to  him,  may  not  be  sins  of  equal  enor- 
mity ;  but  they  are  alike  fatal  to  the  soul's  immor- 
tal interests.  However  that  sad  state  is  reached, 
it  is  a  dreadful  condition  when  the  heart  of  any 
man  is  hardened  against  God.  Let  us  not  be  in- 
sensible to  the  voice  of  his  instructions,  or  to  his 
calls  of  mercy.  It  often  seems  a  vain  thing  to 
argue  against  the  cavillings  which  men  make  re- 
specting things  hard  to  be  understood  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  not  by  any  means  because  their  objections 
are  unanswerable,  or  even  forcible.  But  sin  dark- 
ens the  mind  and   perverts   the  aflfections ;    and 


212  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

truths  perfectly  plain  to  a  holy  mind  may  be  stum- 
bling-blocks to  souls  that  are  blinded  by  prejudice 
and  iniquity.  Yet  let  no  sinful  man  forget — that 
there  rests  upon  him  the  imperative,  infinite  obli- 
gation to  be  reconciled  to  God ;  that  with  whomso- 
ever else  he  may  quarrel,  he  cannot  wisely  lay 
anything  to  his  charge ;  and  that  the  earliest,  the 
most  complete,  and  the  most  cheerful  submission 
to  all  he  teaches  and  to  all  he  requires,  is  our 
"beginning  of  wisdom."  What  seems  darkest  is 
still  right ;  what  seems  harshest  is  yet  just ;  while 
his  largest  mercies  are  free ;  while  his  words  of 
promise  are  true ;  and  none  have  ever  trusted  in 
him  and  been  confounded. 


THE    PASSOVER    INSTITUTED.  213 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  PASSOVMS.  INSTITTITEn, 

"  He  passed  the  tents  of  Jacob  o'er, 
Nor  poured  the  wrath  divine; 
He  saw  the  blood  on  every  door 
And  blessed  the  peaceful  sign."  Watts. 

Though  Moses  was  driven  forth  from  the  pres- 
ence of  Pharaoh,  and  though  he  declares  that  with 
Pharaoh's  own  consent  and  even  urgency,  they 
would  soon  go  forth  from  the  land,  the  prepara- 
tions for  departure  were  deliberately  made.  And 
before  the  last  plague  upon  the  Egyptians,  means 
are  to  be  used  to  shield  the  Israelites  from  the 
stroke  of  the  angel;  and  to  impress  them  with  a 
deep  sense  of  the  greatness  of  their  deliverance. 
The  children  of  Israel  were  directed  to  institute 
the  feast  long  known  among  them  as  the  feast  of 
the  Passover.  Four  days  before  the  appointed 
time,  they  were  to  select  a  lamb  or  a  kid,  (Ex.  xii. 
3,)  and  keep  it  until  the  fixed  time ;  and  then  the 
Passover  must  be  celebrated. 

As  this  was  not  a  temporary  service,  nor  one  of 
trifling  significance  in  the  Jewish  church ;  but  one 
maintained  until  the  opening  of  the  Christian  dis- 


214  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

pensation ;  continued  till  now  by  the  scattered  rem- 
nant of  the  Jewish  people ;  and  even  retained  in 
Christian  churches  under  the  name  of  Easter  by 
reason  of  its  connection  with  the  death  of  Christ, 
we  may  give  our  brief  attention  to  several  things 
pertaining  to  it. 

We  may  first  give  our  thoughts  to  the  Passover, 
in  its  services  and  their  immediate  design. 

The  Israelites  were  commanded  to  set  the  lamb 
apart  for  this  service  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first 
month;  and  on  the  fourteenth  day  to  kill  it.  This 
being  done,  they  were  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
their  abodes,  each  family  by  itself,  or  several 
smaller  families  together ;  to  take  the  blood  of  the 
victim,  and  stain  the  upper  and  side  posts  of  the 
door  ;  to  roast  the  lamb  entire  with  fire ;  breaking 
none  of  the  bones;  and  to  remain  in  the  house 
where  they  ate  it.  As  it  was  intended  that  upon 
that  night  they  should  go  forth  from  the  land,  so 
they  were  to  eat  this  feast  in  the  attitude  of  prepa- 
ration. They  must  stand  upon  their  feet,  with 
their  shoes  upon  them,  with  their  staves  in  their 
hands,  with  their  robes  girded  up  about  them,  and 
they  must  eat  in  haste. 

The  immediate  design  of  this  feast  was  to  im- 
press upon  the  people  that  their  double  deliverance 
— from  the  sword  of  the  destroyer,  and  from  the 
bondage  of  Egypt — was  to  be  effected  by  Divine 
mercy  and  power.  The  blood  upon  the  door-posts 
was  doubtless  more  a  sign  of  their  faith  than  a 


THE  PASSOVER  INSTITUTED.        215 

necessary  mark   to   guide   the    destroying   angel. 
And  yet  it  seems  not  hard  to  understand  that  the 
Passover  was   intended   for  more  important  ends 
than  the  immediate  instruction  of  the  people.     It 
does  not  seem  that  the  minute  directions  given  for 
its  observance  were  regarded  as  obligatory  in  later 
times.     The  sprinkling  of  the  blood  upon  the  door- 
posts,  made   no  part   of  the   later   service.     The 
Saviour  and  his  disciples  did  not  keep  the  Pass- 
over, with  their  loins  girded  up,  nor  standing,  nor 
with  their  staves  in   their   hands ;    nor  did  they 
remain  within  the  house  until  morning.     We  can- 
not  decide  why  the   exact  form    of  the   original 
Passover  was  not  retained  in  the  Jewish  church, 
especially  in  matters  that  seem  so  significant ;  nor 
caij^we  tell  whether  the  people  gradually  or  other- 
wise,  departed   from    the   prescribed  rule.     That 
these  departures  from  the  letter  of  the  commands 
originally  given,  were  no  serious  infringement  of 
Passover  law,  is  evident,  since  our  Lord  adopts  the 
practice  of  his  own  day,  without  any  word  of  rebuke 
upon  it,  as  different  from  the  original  institution. 
The  chief  design  of  the  service  was  to  remember  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  by  the  sprinkling  of  blood ; 
and  to  typify  by  this,  the   sacrifice   of  a  greater 
Lamb  for  a  more  remarkable  deliverance.      It  is 
not  necessary  to  judge  that  the  Israelites  them- 
selves thoroughly  understood  the  meaning  of  the 
service.     Indeed  the  excellence  of  its  testimony  to 
later  times  may  be  greater,  because  the  institution 


216  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

possessed  a  significancy  beyond  their  thoughts  ;  as 
a  prophecy  from  the  lips  of  a  man  who  does  not 
himself  understand  it,  must  have  come  forth  from 
a  wisdom  superior  to  his  own. 

Perhaps  we  should  secondly  notice  an  important 
historical  value  that  belongs  to  the  Passover. 

The  entire  history  of  the  world  does  not  furnish 
us  with  so  remarkable  a  commemorative  institution 
to  establish  the  truth  of  any  historical  event,  as 
the  Jewish  Passover.  The  deliverance  it  records, 
was  one  so  signal  in  Jewish  history,  and  so  wit- 
nessed by  the  entire  nation  ;  and  so  many  remark- 
able things  belong  to  it,  and  to  this  commemorat- 
ive service,  that  we  may  regard  it  as  conclusive 
proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  entire  Mosaic  his- 
tory. It  is  sometimes  compared  to  the  celebration 
in  the  United  States,  of  the  fourth  of  July  to  com- 
memorate the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. But  if  it  is  impossible  that  any  people 
could  be  led  to  observe  such  a  national  festival  as 
the  fourth  of  July,  when  in  fact  no  such  declaration 
had  ever  been  made ;  it  is  much  more  reasonable 
to  argue  that  the  Passover  of  the  Jews  could  only 
arise  from  the  events  it  professes  to  keep  in  mem- 
ory. This  feast  sprang  not  from  any  later  spon- 
taneous movement  on  the  part  of  the  people ;  but 
it  was  authoritatively  established  at  the  very  time; 
it  was  not  a  holiday  for  national  recreation,  but  a 
grave  religious  festival ;  it  celebrated  the  birth- 
day of  civil  and  religious  liberty  among  a  people 


THE    PASSOVER    INSTITUTED.  217 

whose  very  existence  was  perpetuated  that  they 
might  preserve  their  religious  books  and  customs  ; 
the  very  dates  of  their  years  were  changed  to  make 
the  year  thenceforward  begin  with  this  important 
feast ;  the  book  in  which  it  is  enjoined  was  written 
during  that  generation,  and  handed  down  to  pos- 
terity with  the  institution  it  thus  commands  ;  and 
every  thing  about  the  ordinance  corroborates  the 
facts,  which  it  is  designed  to  commemorate.  More 
than  three  thousand  years  have  passed  away  since 
Moses  and  the  people  of  Israel  kept  that  feast ; 
and  it  is  still  observed,  in  all  their  wide  dispersion, 
by  the  remnant  of  that  scattered  race.  Manifestly 
whenever  that  feast  was  first  instituted,  its  adop- 
tion recognized  the  Divine  authority  of  Moses. 
How  could  the  Jewish  race  ever  have  been  induced 
to  establish  such  a  festival,  at  the  time  ^f  the  Exo- 
dus, or  at  any  subsequent  time,  unless  the  events 
here  spoken  of  really  occurred  ?  In  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  human  mind,  we  cannot  fail  to  recog- 
nize that  ail  institution  like  this,  fully  implies  the 
historical  authenticity  of  the  books  of  Moses,  that 
have  been  handed  down  to  posterity  with  this  fes- 
tival. 

The  Bible  is  remarkable  for  three  institutions 
of  a  commemorative  nature,  which,  apart  from 
their  own  significance,  establish  the  historical  au- 
thenticity of  the  Scriptures.  The  first  historical 
writer  of  the  Old  Testament  is  Moses  ;  and  in  his 
times  this  Passover  feast  was  enjoined ;  the  last 

Vol.  I.— 19 


218  THE    HEBREW    LA^VGIVER. 

historical  book  of  the  Old  Testament  is  that  of  Es- 
ther ;  and  when  it  was  given  to  the  church,  the 
feast  Purim  was  enjoined  to  commemorate  the 
great  deliverance  that  book  records  ;  and  with  the 
gospels  in  the  days  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles, 
the  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted.  So  that  three 
most  important  periods  of  the  Scriptural  history 
have  similar  historical  institutions  to  prove  their 
authenticity  ;*  no  ancient  writings  have  testimo- 
nials to  be  compared  with  these;  these  testimonials 
cannot  possibly  be  spurious,  nor  bear  record  to  a 
falsehood ;  and  thus  the  inspired  volume  has  irre- 
fragable proofs  of  veracity.  For  if  these  periods 
of  Scriptural  history  are  confirmed  to  us,  all  the 
rest  is  necessarily  sustained. 

But  the  historical  value  of  the  Passover,  as  bear- 
ing testimony  to  the  authenticity  of  the  Mosaic 
records,  is  greatly  increased,  as  already  suggested, 
by  a  species  of  inherent  evidence,  which  proves  the 
prophetic  character  of  the  ordinance.  Historical 
and  commemorative,  the  Passover  was,  to  every 
age  from  Moses  until  now;  it  was  also  symbolic 
and  prophetic,  beyond  the  understanding  of  those 
who  observed  this  feast  until  the  great  day  of  its 
fulfilment. 

There  belongs  then  thirdly^  a  doctrinal  and  typi- 
cal importance  to  the  Passover  which  we  should 
not  overlook. 

*  See  the  argument  more  largely,  Esther  and  her  Times,  Lect. 
XII.     The  world  is  familiar  with  Leslie. 


THE    PASSOVER    INSTITUTED.  219 

Beyoud  the  clear  knowledge  of  the  sons  of 
Jacob,  the  memorial  of  their  deliverance  from 
Egypt  gave  promise  also  of  a  better  deliverance, 
from  a  more  fearful  stroke,  and  by  more  precious 
blood.  So  the  Apostle  Paul  appropriates  this  or- 
dinance for  the  instruction  of  his  Christian  hearers. 
"For  even  Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for 
us."  So  Christ  himself  substituted  the  Lord's 
Supper  for  the  older  ordinance  that  found  its  fulfil- 
ment in  his  death.  And  if  we  compare  the  two 
services  we  may  see  that  almost  every  thing  in 
Israel  and  in  the  Passover  has  an  answering  idea 
in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ. 

The  bondage  of  Egypt  was  as  the  bondage  of 
sin;  the  destroying  angel  is  as  the  sentence  of 
death  against  every  sinful  soul;  the  Paschal  lamb 
typified  Christ  our  atonement ;  and  our  only 
safety  is  found  in  the  sprinkling  of  that  protecting 
blood.  The  Israelites  were  directed  to  take  of  the 
choicest  lambs  of  their  flocks,  an  unblemished  male 
of  the  first  year :  but  how  excellent  is  our  Lamb, 
typified  in  this  careful  selection.  The  lamb  was 
to  be  slain  at  an  appointed  time ;  as  Christ  Jesus 
was  put  to  death  upon  the  day  of  the  Passover 
feast,  and  in  the  most  public  manner.  They  must 
put  the  blood  upon  the  door-posts  of  their  dwell- 
ings ;  as  we  are  saved  from  the  destroyer's  sword 
by  the  sprinkling  of  more  precious  blood.  They 
must  be  gathered  within  their  abodes  and  remain 
there  until  the  danger  wa«   past ;    so   we   find  our 


220  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

refuge  by  abiding  in  the  church  of  God,  over 
which  alone  the  destroying  angel  passes  harm- 
lessly. The  separation  of  Israel  from  Egypt ;  the 
safety  of  the  one  and  the  destruction  of  the  other, 
are  significant  of  the  difference  which  God  puts 
between  believers  and  unbelievers  in  later  times. 

We  are  further  taught  that  we  ought  to  keep 
the  Christian  Passover  with  feelings  akin  to  those 
which  were  enjoined  upon  Israel  in  their  solemn 
feast.  They  must  search  out  all  the  leaven  in 
their  houses,  and  put  it  away  as  an  emblem  of 
deceit ;  and  we  are  to  keep  our  feast  with  the  un- 
leavened bread  of  sincerity  and  truth.  They  were 
to  keep  the  Passover  with  faith  in  their  covenant 
God ;  and  our  faith  too  must  respect  our  need  of 
deliverance  and  his  power  and  grace  to  save. 
They  must  mingle  bitter  herbs  with  their  eating 
the  Passover ;  and  sorrow  and  repentance  must 
aid  us  to  keep  the  feast.  Each  one  among  them 
must  partake  of  the  roasted  lamb ;  as  we  must  in- 
dividually partake  of  Christ's  sacrifice  to  secure 
its  benefits.  And  as  they  sat  not  down  to  a  quiet 
meal,  but  stood  as  pilgrims  ready  for  a  journey;  as 
they  took  the  food  hastily,  so  are  we  pilgrims 
going  forward ;  and  we  partake  of  a  table  spread 
by  our  Lord  in  the  wilderness  that  we  may  have 
strength  to  press  onward  in  his  service. 

It  seems  not  needful  now  to  enlarge  upon  the 
practical  aspects  of  the  Passover  feast.  Evidently 
it  was  no  ordinary  institution.     With  feelings  of 


THE    PASSOVER    INSTITUTED.  221 

deep  interest  and  solemnity  were  the  Israelites 
gathered  within  their  respective  dwellings  upon 
that  eventful  night.  It  was  indeed  a  night  much 
to  be  remembered ;  only  comparable  in  the  history 
of  man  to  that  darker  and  more 

"  Dreadful  night, 
When  powers  of  earth  and  hell  arose 
Against  the  Son  of  God's  delight, 

And  friends  betrayed  him  to  his  foes." 

It  is  an  interesting  thing  to  notice  that  the  Pass- 
over is  in  this,  like  all  the  important  teachings  of 
the  Jewish  church ;  like  the  Old  Testament  itself, 
only  of  greater  importance  and  interest  and  in- 
struction to  the  Christian  church  than  it  was  to 
the  Jewish.  Their  experience  in  piety  was  like 
ours  in  every  important  feature ;  but  we  have 
clearer  light  and  higher  privileges.  We  see  clearly 
what  they  saw  darkly ;  and  the  great  things  that 
happened  unto  them  are  for  our  learning. 
19  * 


222  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

TSE  JDEATS  OF  THE  FIRST- B OR JV. 

"Then  rose  a  cry,  and  every  mother  wept 
Over  the  cradle  where  her  first-born  slept." 

We  have  sufficiently  considered  the  plagues  of 
Egypt  to  realize  that  they  were  deepl}^  distressing. 
Yet  up  to  this  period,  we  have  no  record  of  the 
actual  loss  of  any  human  life  among  that  people. 
But  this  next  great  grief  now  laid  upon  them  for 
their  perverse  rebellion  against  God,  is  perhaps 
the  most  severe  that  is  recorded  in  all  the  history 
of  man,  as  borne  by  any  nation.  The  loss  of  their 
army,  and  perhaps  their  king  at  its  head,  in  the 
Red  Sea,  was  a  calamity  less  appalling,  and  one 
that  would  be  less  sensibly  felt,  than  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  first-born. 

When  an  army  is  enlisted  for  war  and  goes 
forth  to  battle,  everybody  understands  that  each 
individual  of  that  army,  from  the  meanest  soldier 
to  the  chief  commander,  is  exposed  to  a  sudden 
and  violent  death.  However  weak  the  opposing 
forces  may  be,  or  however  easy  may  be  the  victory 
over  them,  still,  any  one  of  these  warriors,  going 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    FIRST-BOllN.  223 

forth  in  his  strength,  may  never  return.  Such  a 
liability  hangs  over  every  one.  It  was  a  terrible 
disaster  to  Egypt  when  their  entire  army  perished 
in  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea.  Yet  whole  armies 
have  been  lost,  on  various  occasions;  and  neither 
this  nor  the  severest  battles  can  affect  directly 
every  family  of  a  nation.  All  the  differences 
between  a  soldier  and  a  citizen;  war  and  peace;  a 
partial  and  a  universal  calamity,  may  be  marked 
between  the  destruction  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  the 
smiting  of  Egypt's  first-born  by  the  destroying  an- 
gel. 

The  excellencies  of  home  include  love  and 
peace,  happiness  and  security.  It  is  true  indeed 
that  this  household,  gathered  beneath  one  roof  and 
bound  together  in  bonds  of  sacred  affection,  is  not 
exempt  from  care  and  anxiety.  Disease  often  en- 
ters the  happiest  homes ;  death  separates  our 
loved  ones  from  us.  But  when  these  sorrows 
come,  there  are  many  alleviations.  The  sympa- 
thies of  friends  gather  around  the  ajfflicted  house- 
hold to  sustain  them  in  their  trials;  and  kindly 
affection  is  grateful  to  the  troubled  mind.  But  in 
this  fearful  hour  in  Egypt,  each  house  is  necessa- 
rily occupied  with  its  own  trouble.  The  palaces 
of  the  royal  and  the  noble,  the  cottage  of  the 
peasant,  the  hut  of  the  beggar  and  the  slave,  are 
open  alike  to  that  sword  of  avenging  wrath. 
What  a  variety  too  of  age  and  influence  belonged 
to  that  description,  "the  first-born  in  every  house." 


224  THE    HEBREW    LAAVGIVER. 

How  much  of  affliction  belonged  to  the  sudden 
work  and  the  mysterious  nature  of  this  visitation. 
Perhaps  indeed  a  few  of  the  servants  of  Pharaoh 
knew  the  declaration  of  the  Hebrew  prophets; 
knew  that  their  words  would  surely  come  to  pass; 
and  were  filled  with  painful  apprehensions  as  they 
looked  upon  their  first-born ;  and  knew  no  means 
of  averting  the  coming  danger.  But  to  almost  all, 
the  trouble  came  unlooked  for.  The  household 
separated  at  night  for  their  usual  quiet  and  secure 
slumbers.  And  if  at  the  midnight  hour  the 
mother  had  been  aroused  by  the  moaning  of  an 
unquiet  sleeper  in  the  cradle  beside  her ;  if  the  pa- 
rents had  found  the  burning  of  a  fever,  or  the  in- 
coherence of  delirium  in  the  restless  tossings  of  a 
beloved  one,  their  alarm  and  anxiety  would  be  less, 
to  recognize  in  these  the  symptoms  of  some  famil- 
iar disease.  We  do  not  know  by  what  means  the 
Lord's  messenger  to  Egypt  performed  his  errand. 
Yet  doubtless  that  unknown  midnight  plague  and 
in  every  household,  was  beyond  description  terri- 
ble. 

And  as  the  usual  call  for  the  aid  and  sympathy 
of  neighbours  made  known  the  dreadful  truth  that 
every  house  was  the  scene  of  a  similar  calamity; 
when  wailings  met  the  ear  from  every  dwelling,  of 
the  aged  over  the  stay  of  their  declining  years,  of 
the  young  mother  over  her  darling,  and  of  the 
young  wife  over  her  cold  husband ;  when  they  re- 
called the  fearful  judgments  that  had  of  late  dis- 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    FIRST-BORN.  225 

tressed  their  land ;  and  Avhen  the  present  distress, 
superior  to  all  the  rest,  is  referred  to  the  struggle 
between  Pharaoh  and  Moses,  it  is  no  \yonder  that 
with  one  common  impulse,  the  Egyptians  were  ur- 
gent for  the  departure  of  Israel. 

We  know  not  by  what  agency  this  fearful  de- 
struction was  wrought.  A  single,  created  angel 
could  not,  as  we  may  suppose,  visit  every  Egyptian 
dwelling  at  a  single  hour  of  the  night.  But  truly, 
whatever  does  the  Lord's  will,  is  the  Lord's  angel. 
He  makes  the  winds  his  messengers  and  the  light- 
nings his  servants.  Perhaps  these  reasons  for  for- 
bidding the  Israelites  to  leave  their  dwellings  until 
the  morning  may  be  suggested ;  that  it  might  be 
evident  that  this  destruction  came  by  no  agency 
of  theirs,  and  that  they  might  all  be  assembled 
ready  for  their  departure  from  the  land. 

Many  discussions  have  been  held  upon  the  state- 
ment that  the  Israelites  at  the  command  of  God 
borrowed  from  the  Egyptians  jewels  of  gold  and 
silver;  and  took  these  with  them  as  they  left  the 
land.  Some  have  argued  that  this  was  but  a  rob- 
bery upon  their  part,  and  this  the  worse  because 
they  were  divinely  ordered  to  do  this.  Suffice  it 
for  us  to  make  two  remarks  upon  the  matter. 

1st.  The  brevity  of  these  records  often  leaves 
us  ignorant  of  many  circumstances  which  might 
fully  explain  any  obscure  points.  That  any  thing 
contrary  to  rectitude  was  enjoined  upon  Israel,  we 
have  no  reason  to  believe. 


226  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

2d.  Many  scholars  allege  that  the  word  here 
used  is  not  the  ordinary  word  for  borrow.  See 
Deut.  xxviii.  12,  Neh.  v.  4:  mS.  This  word  is 
rather  the  ordinary  word  for  "ask"  or  "demand." 
A  demand  was  made  upon  the  Egyptians,  which  in 
their  peculiar  circumstances  they  felt  no  disposi- 
tion to  refuse.  The  bondage  of  Israel  had  been 
oppressive,  and  the  Egyptians  had  long  enough 
reaped  the  fruits  of  their  unrequited  toils.  It 
may  therefore  have  been  but  distributive  justice  to 
render  these  returns.  And  though  the  king  of 
Egypt  had  so  hardened  his  heart,  yet  the  people 
greatly  feared  the  Israelites  because  of  the  judg- 
ments of  their  God;  and  this  even  before  the  de- 
struction of  their  first-born ;  much  more  after  that. 
To  all  this  it  may  be  added,  that  in  such  contests 
between  two  nations,  as  this  between  Egypt  and 
Israel,  as  indeed  in  all  warfare,  the  power  of 
spoiling  their  enemies  has  ever  been  exercised  by 
the  victors.  The  Israelites  carried  ofi"  the  spoils 
of  Egypt;  not  secured  by  guile  or  treachery,  but 
openly  demanded  of  them ;  and  their  rightful  due 
by  reason  of  many  years  of  toil.  Nor  should  we 
forget  the  promise  long  before  made  by  God  to 
Abraham  that  after  their  servitude  in  a  strange 
land  his  children  should  come  out  with  great  sub- 
stance. Gen.  XV.  14. 

The  going  forth  of  Israel  from  Egypt  is  so 
briefly  and  simply  stated  in  the  narrative  of 
Moses  that  few  persons  ever  realize  how  great  a 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    FIRST-BORN.  227 

thing  it  was.  The  world  never  saw,  before  or 
since,  such  an  emigration.  Here  were  six  hun- 
dred thousand  men  going  forth  in  one  vast  com- 
pany together  with  their  women  and  children  and 
cattle.  It  does  not  seem  needful  to  claim  that  these 
men  were  all  capable  of  bearing  arms;  yet  the  en- 
tire number  would  scarcely  be  less  than  two  millions. 
We  cannot  think  it  possible,  that  these  numbers 
could  be  brought  together,  and  led  forth  from 
Egypt  in  one  night.  It  seems  much  more  likely 
that  the  seven  days  after  the  Passover,  during 
which  they  must  eat  unleavened  bread,  was  spent 
in  gathering  to  Etham  by  the  edge  of  the  wilder- 
ness. The  time  is  not  noted  in  the  narrative;  but 
at  the  end  of  a  month  from  the  Passover,  the  hosts 
had  only  gone  three  or  four  days'  journey  beyond 
the  Red  Sea.  Ex.  xv.  22:  xvi.  1.  It  may  be  that 
full  two  weeks  passed,  from  the  destruction  of  the 
first-born  to  the  passage  of  the  Sea;  and  even  in 
this  time  so  large  a  body  could  not  have  been 
gathered  to  a  single  place  of  rendezvous,  but  for 
the  guidance  of  that  remarkable  Pillar  by  which 
God  himself  led  them  forth.  It  was  an  easy  thing 
for  vast  bodies  of  them  to  gather  together,  even 
by  separate  divisions,  when  such  an  appearance 
taught  them  where  to  go.  The  narrative  says,  the 
children  of  Israel  went  up  harnessed;  i.  e.  in  mili- 
tary order;'  as  the  margin  says,  "five  in  a  rank." 
But  it  may  mean  in  five  separate  bodies,  which 
perhaps  came  together  at  Raamses.     But  it  is  cer- 


228  THE    HEBKEW    LAWGIVER. 

tainly  appropriate   to   say  that  Israel   went   forth 
with  a  high  hand. 

But  doubtless  the  hurry  and  excitement  was 
greatest,  both  among  the  Israelites  and  the  Egyp- 
tians, upon  that  memorable  night.  The  anguish 
of  Egypt  dare- not  find  its  expression  in  vengeance 
upon  Israel.  Even  Pharaoh,  now  at  last  brought 
to  urge  them  to  go  forth,  beseeches  them  to  bless 
him  by  asking  for  him  the  favour  of  their  awful 
God;  and  all  the  people  of  the  land,  only  too  glad 
to  see  them  go,  are  ready  to  afford  them  all  the 
aid  in  their  power.  As  God  threatened  that  he 
would  specially  execute  judgment  upon  the  Egyp- 
tian gods  upon  that  night,  Ex.  xii.  12,  it  may  be 
that  they  found  their  idols  fallen,  as  afterwards 
Dagon  fell  before  the  Ark  of  the  Lord,  1  Sam.  v. 
3;  or  perhaps  the  animals  kept  for  worship  died; 
and  this  added  to  the  distress  of  the  Egyptians. 
The  children  of  Israel  therefore  went  forth,  not 
only  unopposed,  but  even  aided  by  the  Egyptians. 

It  would  also  seem  that  in  the  excitement  of 
that  wonderful  march,  many  of  the  Egyptians 
joined  themselves  to  Israel,  and  went  forth  with 
their  advancing  hosts.  These  are  called  by  Moses 
a  "mixed  multitude.*'  They  were,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  subsequent  history,  of  no  advan- 
tage to  Israel.  See  Numb.  xi.  4.  They  were 
doubtless  the  fickle  populace,  perhaps  from  the 
lower  classes  in  the  Egyptian  cities,  ready  to  be 
carried   away  by  any  tide   of  excitement.     They 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    FIRST-BORN.  229 

joined  themselves  to  the  advancing  Hosts  of  God's 
people,  from  no  understanding  of  the  principles  of 
piety  in  Israel;  and  from  no  true  attachment  to 
Israel's  God.  Such  a  multitude  could  only  be  a 
hindrance  to  the  hosts.  They  were  all  idolaters ; 
and  though  it  may  be  that  some  of  them  learned 
lessons  of  saving  wisdom  as  they  dwelt  in  the 
tents  of  God's  people,  it  is  most  likely  that  the 
chief  part  of  them  found  their  graves  in  the  wan- 
derings of  the  desert,  among  those  that  provoked 
God  by  their  murmurings. 

If  it  seems  strange  to  us  that  such  a  rabble 
would  be  allowed  to  go  forth  in  the  Exodus  of  Is- 
rael, let  us  remember  that  an  entire  separation 
between  God's  chosen  people  and  the  unbelieving 
world  has  never  been  effected  upon  earth.  Usu- 
ally the  church  is  in  the  world;  and  even  in  the 
deserts  of  Sinai,  Israel  was  not  alone.  All  were 
not  Israel  which  were  of  Israel,  Rom.  ix.  6 ;  and  a 
mixed  company  of  idolaters  was  around  them  and 
among  them.  So  now  Christ  pleads,  "I  pray  not 
that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world." 
John  xvii.  15. 

Vol.  I.— 20 


230  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

ISBAEL  AT  THE  RED  SEA. 

"The  man  of  God 
O'er  the  wide  waters  lifts  his  mighty  rod, 
And  onward  treads.     The  circling  waves  retreat 
In  hoarse  deep  murmurs,  from  his  holy  feet; 
And  the  chased  surges,  inly  roaring,  show 
The  hard  wet  sand  and  coral  hills  below."         Heber. 

The  children  of  Israel  now  began  their  long-de- 
signed march  from  Egypt.  But  God's  thoughts  are 
not  man's  thoughts.  Their  first  steps  toward  lib- 
erty seem  to  bring  them  into  new  difficulties. 
Their  nearest  route  to  Canaan  would  have  led 
them  northward,  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea;  but  instead  of  pursuing  this,  or  even 
instead  of  turning  around  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea 
to  leave  Egypt  as  speedily  as  possible,  they  took 
what  seemed  to  be  the  worst  possible  route.  They 
turned  down  the  western  side  of  the  Red  Sea;  and 
seemed  to  march  away  from  the  Isthmus  of  Suez, 
by  which  alone  they  could  reach  Asia  from  Africa. 

And  yet  there  was  in  this,  only  a  seeming  mis- 
take; for  they  were  under  Divine  direction.  The 
wonderful  Pillar  by  which  God  designed  to  lead 


ISRAEL    AT    THE    RED    SEA.  231 

their  way,  wliiph  seemed  but  a  cloud  in  the  sky  by 
day,  but  which  at  night  grew  luminous,  was  their 
ever  visible  guide.  Led  by  this  Pillar,  they  were 
in  the  right  way;  though  often  they  themselves 
may  have  feared  they  were  not.  Many  among 
them  were  doubtless  entirely  ignorant  of  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  country,  and  of  the  true  route  to 
Canaan;  but  if  a  few  of  the  Israelites,  or  of  the 
Egyptian  camp  followers,  knew  the  true  route 
they  could  easily  excite  uneasiness  and  murmuring 
against  their  leaders. 

There  are  three  reasons,  apparent  to  us,  for  the 
circuitous  and  unwonted  route  of  the  Israelites  as 
they  went  forth  from  Egypt. 

First.  God  thus  showed  his  kindness  to  the  peo- 
ple in  sparing  them  from  the  attacks  of  enemies, 
they  were  not  as  yet  prepared  to  meet.  The 
nearest  road  led  through  the  warlike  tribes  of  the 
Philistines.  But  the  sons  of  Jacob,  having  been 
so  long  oppressed  in  Egypt,  had  nothing  either  of 
the  spirit  of  freemen,  or  of  the  experience  needful  to 
contend  with  those  who  are  inured  to  arms.  Ex.  xiii. 
17, 18.  They  are  not  allowed  to  meet  trials  for  which 
they  have  as  yet  no  preparation.  We  often  think 
our  present  trials  hard  to  bear;  and  yet  they  may 
even  be  sent  in  God's  mercy,  to  save  us  from 
other  troubles  that  are  really  beyond  our  strength. 
This  change  of  their  route  may  have  been  a  great 
trial  of  the  faith  of  Moses.  For  if  we  suppose 
that  in  his  earlier  years,  he  had  possessed  expe- 


232  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

rience  in  leading  armies,  we  must  believe  that  he 
was  not  ignorant  of  the  ordinary  route.  He 
would  naturally  make  full  inquiries  before  under- 
taking to  lead  out  this  great  multitude;  and  in- 
deed he  had  himself  twice  gone  over  the  route 
from  Egypt  to  Sinai,  in  addition  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Red  Sea,  which  he  may  have  gained  from 
forty  years'  residence  in  Arabia.  No  man  in  all 
the  camp  better  understood  what  a  false  movement 
was  made  by  turning  down  the  western  side  of  the 
Red  Sea.  And  yet  Moses  did  not  hesitate  to  sur- 
render his  own  judgment,  and  to  march  quietly  for- 
ward, where  Divine  guidance  evidently  led. 

Secondly.  God  led  his  people  out  of  the  usual 
road  to  Canaan  that  they  might  secure  a  final  il- 
lustrious triumph  over  their  enemies.  It  is  plain 
that  Pharaoh  had  let  the  people  go  only  because 
he  could  no  longer  keep  them;  and  that  his  heart 
was  as  hostile  to  them  and  to  their  God  as  ever. 
And  now  after  a  few  days  had  given  him  time  to 
recover  the  dreadful  shock  of  the  loss  of  their 
first-born ;  and  when  new  thirstings  for  vengeance 
took  the  place  of  grief;  when  the  king  of  Egypt 
learned  that  the  Israelites  had  taken  the  wrong 
road,  he  may  have  thought  that  this  itself  was  a 
proof  that  God  was  not  their  guide.  Perhaps  he 
might  reason,  that  if  God  was  their  guide,  they 
would  at  least  have  known  that  they  were  quite 
out  of  the  proper  road;  and  the  very  fact  that 
they  were  so,  gave  him  encouragement  that  his 


ISRAEL   AT    THE    RED    SEA.  233 

armies  could  reduce  them  to  subjection,  and  lead 
them  back  again  to  Egypt.  But  only  by  false 
reasoning  does  either  friend  or  foe  argue  that  God 
has  forsaken  his  people.  Better  for  Pharaoh  had 
he  learned  the  lessons  already  given,  and  known 
by  experience,  at  least  thus  late,  that,  "No  -wea- 
pon formed  against  Zion  shall  prosper." 

Thirdly.  God  led  his  people  thus  far  out  of  the 
natural  way  to  Canaan  to  teach  them  and  us,  a 
lesson  of  spiritual  progress;  and  to  lead  them  to 
the  exercise  of  faith.  The  way  round  about  is  the 
right  way,  if  for  nothing  else,  because  it  bids  us 
trust  in  his  guidance  and  calls  forth  our  faith. 
They  were  led  into  perplexity ;  indeed  into  such  per- 
plexity as  forbade  any  solution,  except  as  they  re- 
posed their  confidence  in  God.  Every  guide  they 
could  consult,  who  had  any  experience  of  the  routes, 
or  any  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  country, 
would  assure  them  that  they  were  wrong;  and  that 
they  could  find  no  outlet  to  the  desert  by  marching 
to  the  south.  Yet  they  had  sufficient  proof  that  they 
were  right,  since  they  had  followed  the  guidance 
of  the  great  Pillar.  This  was  not  the  first  time 
that  God  had  led  them  through  trouble  on  their 
way  to  relief;  and  he  had  shown  his  power  to  save 
before,  when  they  could  not  anticipate  how  he 
would  work.  And  surely  a  people  who  had  so  re- 
cently known  the  mighty  hand  of  God  for  their 
defence  and  deliverance,  should  have  been  willing 
now  to  trust  him,  without  the  sight  of  their  eyes. 

20  * 


234  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Faith  ought  to  have  said,  that  some  good  reason, 
for  his  glory  and  Israel's  good,  had  brought  them 
by  this  unaccustomed  route. 

The  precise  point  to  which  the  hosts  of  Israel 
passed  down  the  western  coast  of  the  Red  Sea  and 
then  passed  through  its  divided  waters,  is  a  matter 
not  now  easy  to  settle.  In  fact  we  may  esteem 
this  one  of  the  most  difficult  questions  of  Biblical 
geography.  The  difficulty  arises  in  part  from  the 
brevity  of  the  narrative ;  and  in  part  from  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  the  sea  itself.  It  is  evi- 
dent from  the  reports  of  travellers  that  that  re- 
markable body  of  water  is  not  now  so  large  as  for- 
merly. Dr.  Robinson,  who  made  his  observations 
along  the  coast  for  the  express  purpose  of  deter- 
mining where  the  passage  of  the  children  of  Israel 
took  place,  supposes  that  it  was  near  Suez,  not 
far  from  what  is  now  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea. 
Others  suppose  that  the  crossing  took  place  ten  or 
twelve  miles  lower  down.  If,  with  Dr.  Robinson, 
we  regard  the  place  as  at  Suez,  we  find  there  a 
plain  capable  of  holding  two  millions  of  men  with 
the  mountains  approaching  so  close  to  the  sea, 
that  but  a  narrow  defile  remains  along  the  shore.* 
Such  a  place  as  this  would  fully  meet  the  words  of 
Pharaoh,  "they  are  entangled  in  the  land."  This 
point  of  the  Red  Sea  can  now  be  crossed  as  a  ford; 
and  it  is  worthy  of  our  notice  that  Napoleon  Buo- 
naparte and  his  staft"  crossed  it  in  1799 ;  and  mis- 

*  Kurtz's  Old  Gov.,  ii.  374. 


ISRAEL   AT   THE   RED   SEA.  235 

taking  the  route,  and  darkness  coming  on,  tliey 
were  exposed  to  imminent  danger,  and  were  res- 
cued only  by  his  capacity  and  presence  of  mind.* 
But  even  now  caravans  never  cross  this  ford ;  while 
there  is  proof  enough  that  formerly  this  part  of 
the  sea  was  both  wider  and  deeper. f 

If  we  are  to  understand  that  the  children  of 
Israel  advanced  through  an  open  valley  until 
they  were  hemmed  in,  by  the  mountains  and  the 
sea;  and  that  then  the  army  of  Pharaoh  was  able 
to  take  possession  of  their  only  way  of  retreat,  we 
need  not  wonder  that  their  passage  through  the 
waters  is  recorded  as  a  triumph  of  faith.  The 
king  of  Egypt,  learning  the  route  they  had  taken, 
thought  he  was  sure  of  them.  They  were  forsa- 
ken of  God,  or  they  would  not  be  there.  They 
were  unable  to  fight  his  armies,  and  as  unable  to 
flee.  The  king  assembled  as  much  of  an  army  as 
he  could  within  a  brief  space.  And  this  was  by 
no  means  inconsiderable.  For  warriors  were 
ranked  as  a  distinct  and  highly  honourable  class 
in  Egypt;  and  a  large  standing  army  was  main- 
tained. The  army  of  Sesostris  according  to  Dio- 
dorus  was  600,000  infantry,  24,000  cavalry,  and 
27,000  war  chariots.  Josephus  says  that  at  this 
time,  Pharaoh  led  out  600  chariots,  50,000  horse- 

*  Alison's  Europe,  i.  518. 

f  Robinson,  i.  85.  Kitto  Sc.  Lands,  57.  Yet  Bonar  says,  "  The 
shoals  all  run  up  and  down  the  gulf,  not  across  it."  Desert  of 
Sinai,  92. 


236  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

men,  and  200,000  footmen.  But  the  narrative  in 
Exodus  mentions  only  chariots  and  cavalry:  (com- 
pare xiv.  9,  23,  XV.  1.)  Pharaoh  took  six  hun- 
dred picked  chariots  and  all  his  other  chariots. 
Perhaps  only  the  cavalry  and  chariots  were  taken 
because  the  pursuit  was  made  in  haste.  The 
Egyptians  were  anciently  very  famous  for  their 
horses;  and  upon  the  monuments,  war  chariots  are 
frequently  found.  Sometimes  a  chariot  carries 
two  men,  one  to  fight,  and  the  other  to  drive;  and 
sometimes  there  are  three  men,  the  third  being  the 
armour-bearer,  or  sometimes  two  of  them  are  war- 
riors.* 

Many  writers  upon  this  portion  of  the  history 
seem  to  take  it  for  granted  that  all  these  events 
occurred  within  three  or  four  days  of  the  keeping 
of  the  Passover.  But  the  narrative  gives  no  data 
upon  which  to  determine  this.  A  month  inter- 
vened between  the  slaying  of  the  first-born  in 
Egypt  and  the  arrival  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Sin,  three  days'  journey,  or  a  little 
more,  from  the  Red  Sea.  Ex.  xv.  22,  xvi.  1.  We 
may  therefore,  without  violating  the  narrative, 
suppose  that  the  movements  of  the  Egyptians  were 
more  deliberate.  A  few  days  spent  in  recovering 
from  the  dreadful  stroke  so  lately  felt,  and  in 
forming  their  purposes  of  vengeance,  when  they 

*  Kurtz,  ii.  354.  Wilkinson,  i.  368.  Rollin,  i.  120.  It  is  said 
that  the  ancient  Egyptians  used  no  cavalry.  Yet  this  cannot  be 
certainly  afl&rmed.     See  Smith's  Diet.  Bible,  ii.  1017. 


ISRAEL    AT    THE    RED    SEA.  237 

heard  that  the  Israelites  were  apparently  in  their 
power,  would  seem  at  least  natural  in  their  circum- 
stances. But  having  once  made  up  their  minds 
that  thej  had  acted  foolishly  in  letting  their  bond- 
men go,  and  that  now  they  could  retrieve  the  er- 
ror, no  doubt  the  actual  pursuit  was  rapid.  The 
first  knowledge  the  Israelites  had  of  the  matter 
was  the  sight  of  the  hosts  of  Pharaoh,  which  they 
could  not  resist,  taking  possession  of  the  defile  be- 
hind them,  so  that  also  they  could  not  fly. 

It  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  consternation 
and  distress  spread  through  the  hosts  of  Israel,  as 
it  became  speedily  known  that  Pharaoh  was  be- 
hind them.  If  the  Divine  guidance  had  prevented 
them  from  marching  through  the  territories  of  the 
Philistines,  because  the  people  were  unprepared 
for  war,  they  were  surely  not  prepared  now  to 
fight  with  these  well  trained  Egyptian  warriors. 
That  these  were  their  old  oppressors,  from  whose 
tyranny  they  had  no  spirit  to  free  themselves, 
would  make  them  more  afraid.  And  indeed  we  do 
not  know  that  the  Israelites  were  at  this  time  pos- 
sessed of  any  weapons  of  warfare.  Rather  we 
conclude  that,  as  a  mass,  they  were  an  unarmed 
multitude.  They  may  have  added  to  the  few  arms 
already  in  their  hands,  by  the  spoils  of  these  very 
enemies,  washed  up  for  them  from  the  depths  of 
the  sea;  and  the  skilful  men  who  afterwards  made 
the  tabernacle  may  have  taught  the  people  to 
make  themselves   arms   before  they  came  into  ac- 


238  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

tual  warfare  with  any  enemies.  But  we  cannot  be 
surprised  that  the  people  were  greatly  distressed 
when  they  saw  the  Egyptian  army.  They  ought 
indeed  to  have  borne  in  mind  the  manifold  deliver- 
ances that  God  had  already  wrought  within  the 
past  few  months  of  their  history.  How  could  they 
forget,  that  Pharaoh's  rage  brought  only  severer 
judgments  against  himself  and  larger  mercies  to 
Israel?  And  yet  this  is  our  poor  sinful  nature. 
Every  new  trial  drives  away  the  remembrance  of 
past  mercies;  and  we  easily  deem  ourselves  for- 
saken of  God.  But  the  Israelites  went  much  farther 
than  this.  As  when  heavier  burdens  had  been 
laid  upon  them,  (v.  21,)  so  now,  they  murmured 
against  Moses;  and  complained  that  he  brought 
them  away  from  the  ease  of  Egypt  to  find  graves 
in  the  desert. 


RED    SEA    LESSONS.       -  239 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

nEn  SEA  LESSONS, 

"Sound  the  loud  timbrel  o'er  Egypt's  dark  sea, 
Jehovah  has  triumphed  !     His  people  are  free ! 
Sing  !  for  the  pride  of  the  tyrant  is  broken; 
His  chariots,  his  horsemen  all  splendid  and  brave. 

How  vain  was  their  boasting !     The  Lord  has  but  spoken 
And  chariots  and  horsemen  are  sunk  in  the  wave ! 
Sound  the  loud  timbrel  o'er  Egypt's  dark  sea ! 
Jehovah  has  triumphed  !     His  people  are  free !" 

The  position  occupied  by  Moses  at  this  time, 
remarkably  exemplifies  the  meekness  and  the  faith 
of  the  man  of  God.  No  one  in  all  the  camp  was 
better  aware  than  himself  of  the  difficulties  around 
them ;  indeed  he  would  not  have  led  the  hosts  in 
this  direction,  but  for  the  manifest  leadings  of  Di- 
vine providence.  And  because  he  was  a  believer, 
this  was  his  comfort  and  support  that  he  had  not 
brought  these  difficulties  upon  himself.  This  was 
his  confidence,  that  if  Divine  wisdom  had  led  him 
into  straits,  Divine  mercy  and  Divine  power  would 
open  a  way  out.  Perhaps  even  Moses  did  not 
as  yet  know  how  this  deliverance  would  be  ef- 
fected.    The  opening  of  the  sea  may  have  as  little 


240  XHE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

entered  his  thoughts  as  the  thoughts  of  rebellious 
Israel,  or  even  of  hardened  Pharaoh.  But  we 
may  well  agree  to  call  Moses  a  man  of  preeminent 
meekness,  when  the  ingratitude  and  injustice  of 
Israel  towards  himself,  and  their  provocation 
against  Grod,  did  not  move  him  to  indignation. 
The  people  ought  to  have  remembered  what  their 
great  leader  had  done  for  them.  No  man  in  that 
vast  congregation  had  taken  a  deeper  interest  in 
their  welfare  than  he  had.  None  of  them  had  sac- 
rificed more  than  he;  none  had  more  exposed 
themselves  to  the  indignation  of  Pharaoh;  none 
had  more  to  fear  from  the  success  of  the  Egyp- 
tians.* 

But  Moses  stood  calm  and  forbearing,  while  the 
camp  was  filled  with  the  utmost  agitation.  He 
made  no  efibrt  to  vindicate  himself;  but  he  at- 
tempted to  quiet  the  Israelites  by  assuring  them 
that  they  had  no  occasion  to  fear;  nor  need  they 
lift  a  hand  to  resist  or  to  smite  Egypt.  By  the 
Lord's  power  they  should  be  delivered;  and  they 
now  looked  on  these  dreaded  foes  for  the  last  time. 
Yet  this  seems  to  have  been  a  time  on  the  part  of 
Moses  of  earnest  prayer  to  God.  It  is  not  re- 
corded that  he  uttered  any  prayer  in  the  sight  of 
the  people.  Perhaps  it  was  in  the  depths  of  his 
own  heart,  deeply  afi'ected  by  their  perilous  posi- 
tion, yet  relying  upon  the  power  of  God,  that  his 
prayer  went  up  for  the  needed  deliverance. 

*  Bush. 


RED    SEA    LESSONS.  241 

But  the  time  has  now  come  for  action;  and  with 
this,  prayer  must  not  be  allowed  to  interfere. 
Sometimes  God's  people  can  do  nothing,  but  pray; 
and  then  they  should  pray;  and  while  praying, 
stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  God.  But  the 
truly  devout  mind  stands  still  neither  through  in- 
dolence nor  presumption:  it  is  ready  to  act  as 
soon  as  the  time  comes  for  proper  action;  and 
thus  praying,  and  waiting  and  acting  may  be  but 
different  workings  of  the  same  faith,  as  circum- 
stances may  bid  us  do  one  or  the  other.  That  all 
the  glory  of  this  great  deliverance  may  be  given  to 
God  alone,  Moses  is  simply  to  lift  his  rod  over  the 
waters,  and  Divine  power  must  open  the  pathway 
through  the  sea. 

And  now  first  the  command  goes  through  the 
camp  of  the  Israelites  that  they  must  prepare  to 
march.  The  order  is  deliberate,  yet  preparation 
in  so  vast  a  host  is  no  slight  matter.  Perhaps 
this  was  just  about  evening;  and  the  Egyptians, 
sure  of  their  prey,  had  made  arrangements  for 
the  night's  repose,  after  their  fatiguing  march. 
Doubtless  they  were  ignorant  of  the  stir  in  the 
camp  of  Israel.  For  we  have  some  just  reason  to 
think  that  the  passage  of  the  children  of  Israel 
through  the  Red  Sea  was  attended  by  such  a  tre- 
mendous storm,  such  an  agitation  of  the  earth,  the 
air,  and  the  seas;  the  earth  quaking,  the  rain 
dashing,  the, winds  howling,  the  lightning  flashing, 
the  thunder  pealing,  the  waves  roaring;  as  mortal 

Vol.  I.— 2T 


242  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

man  had  never  before  seen  these  things.  That 
the  people  went  through  dry  shod,  refers  only  to 
their  safe  passage,  i.  e.  through  the  waters  of  the 
sea;  but  it  does  not  affirm  that  no  rain  fell  upon 
them  from  above.  Rather  every  word  of  this  de- 
scription corresponds  with  the  words  of  a  Psalm- 
ist, who  expressly  tells  us  how  the  people  passed 
through  the  Red  Sea.  He  says  the  sea  was 
afraid:  "the  depths  also  were  troubled;  the  clouds 
poured  out  water;  the  skies  sent  out  a  sound; 
thine  arrows  also  went  abroad;  the  voice  of  thy 
thunder  was  in  the  heaven ;  thy  lightnings  light- 
ened the  world;  the  earth  trembled  and  shook," 
Ps.  Ixxvii.  16 — 20,  when  God  led  his  people  like  a 
flock  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron. 

The  next  movement,  after  the  orders  issued  by 
Moses,  was  the  removal  of  the  guiding  Pillar, 
which  now  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel  became  their 
protecting  rear-guard.  God  is  either  before  or  be- 
hind his  people,  according  as  their  necessities  de- 
mand; before  to  lead  them  in  unknown  ways,  be- 
hind to  guard  them  from  pursuing  foes.  To  the 
Egyptians  perhaps  this  cloud  of  awful  blackness 
was  the  apparent  cause  of  the  storm  then  raging; 
and  the  movements  of  the  Israelites  were  more 
easily  made  because  their  enemies  thought  that  no 
army  could  march  at  such  a  time.  But  the  cloud 
that  was  dark  to  them,  was  light  all  night  to 
Israel.  And  when  all  was  ready  and  the  lawgiver 
gave  the  command  to  go  forward,  it  was  by  faith 


RED    SEA    LESSONS.  243 

that  Israel  passed  through  the  sea.  Marshalled  in 
wide  ranks  that  the  passage  might  be  more  speedy, 
perhaps  the  waters  still  dashed  upon  the  shore  in 
rising  fury,  until  the  feet  of  the  foremost  were 
almost  dipped  in  the  surf;  and  to  advance  seemed 
an  act  of  madness,  rather  than  of  faith.  Yet  this 
was  the  way  in  which  the  Divine  word  bade  them 
go,  and  they  went  forward.  And  as  they  went, 
what  a  deliverance  took  place!  The  waves  of  the 
sea  parted;  the  waters  ranged  themselves  on 
either  hand;  the  path  was  open.  In  one  sense, 
this  was  no  great  thing  for  God  to  do.  Every  day 
of  the  world's  history,  he  does  far  more  stupend- 
ous things  by  his  ordinary  working.  Every  day 
the  entire  waters  of  the  ocean  are  lifted  up  from 
their  bed  and  sent  back  again  by  mighty  power; 
yet  nobody  wonders  at  the  tides,  because  they  reg- 
ularly occur.  Want  of  power,  or  want  of  means 
to  effect  this  wonder  at  the  Red  Sea,  surely  could 
not  hinder  its  occurrence.  In  another  sense,  this 
was  a  great  thing  for  God  to  do.  Chiefly  let  us 
recognize  that  to  show  forth  his  own  glory,  and  his 
readiness  to  bless  his  people,  "  he  did  marvellous 
things  at  the  Red  Sea."  Egypt  for  perverse  re- 
bellion deserved  this  judgment;  the  tribes  around 
needed  some  public  demonstration  of  his  power 
that  should  strike  them  with  a  wholesome  terror 
for  the  protection  of  Israel,  Ex.  xv.  14,  15;  and 
Israel  would  naturally  have  more  confidence  in 
their  protecting  God. 


244  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

And  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the  sea, 
and  not  without  the  action  of  the  wind  upon  the 
waters,  the  waves  parted,  and  a  path  was  made  for 
the  advancing  hosts.  This  was  indeed  a  wonder- 
ful scene;  and  we  cannot  imagine  the  emotions  of 
the  people  as  they  followed  their  intrepid  leader. 
The  severity  of  the  storm  around  them,  the  strange 
bulwarks  of  restless  waters  held  in  restraint  on 
either  side,  and  the  bright  shining  of  that  glorious 
cloud,  which  not  only  gave  them  light  to  go,  but 
gave  them  also  Divine  assurance  of  safety,  would 
impress  them  with  a  serious  awe,  almost  in  con- 
trast with  the  emotions  of  hope  and  joy  and  grati- 
tude which  sprang  from  their  deliverance.  But 
doubtless  the  thoughts  of  the  Israelites  were  al- 
most as  various  as  the  numbers  of  the  people. 
How  many  passed  through  the  Red  Sea  with  bold 
and  unfaltering  step,  with  faith  in  their  hearts  and 
songs  upon  their  lips;  and  how  many  that  fearful 
night,  pale  with  terror,  were  but  hastened  forward 
as  others  bore  them,  like  light  and  lifeless  straws 
upon  a  hurrying  current;  how  many  perhaps  even 
then  longed  for  Egypt,  when  thus  passing  forward 
to  Canaan.  Even  a  Red  Sea's  deliverance  was  no 
proof  of  spiritual  faith.  Rejoice  not  if  the  waves 
obey  you,  or  if  the  devils  are  subject  to  you;  but 
rather  rejoice  that  your  names  are  written  in  hea- 
ven. The  miracles  of  those  days  did  not  lift  them 
above  us.  We  have  teachings  of  truth  and  calls 
of  grace  at  least  as  clear  as  any  they  had;   and 


RED    SEA    LESSONS.  245 

salvation  belongs  not  specially  to  days  of  miracles. 
An  apostle  expressly  instructs  us  that  with  many 
who  passed  through  that  baptism  in  the  Red  Sea, 
God  was  not  well  pleased;  for  they  were  after- 
wards overthrown  in  the  wilderness.  1  Cor.  x. 
1—5. 

When  the  Egyptians  learned  that  the  Israelites 
had  nearly  -passed  the  Red  Sea,  they  pressed  on  in 
pursuit.  They  even  dared  to  pass  in  between 
those  tremendous  walls,  and  to  seek  their  revenge 
in  the  bed  of  the  sea.  Apparently  forgetting  that 
ten  times  already  had  the  Lord  put  a  difference 
between  his  foes  and  his  friends,  with  the  sound 
of  trumpets,  the  rush  of  chariots  and  the  clang  of 
arms,  they  hurried  on.  And  not  until  they  had 
advanced  too  far  to  admit  of  retreat,  did  they  dis- 
cover the  hostile  aspect  of  the  separating  cloud. 
Never  before  had  an  army  been  in  such  a  place; 
the  moist  sea-weed,  or  the  yielding  sand  beneath 
them;  the  glassy  wall  of  threatening  waters  on 
either  hand;  and  above  them,  not  only  the  war  of 
the  elements,  but  the  flashing  fires  of  that  awful 
Pillar.  What  a  panic  was  that  in  the  Egyptian 
ranks  when  the  cry  arose,  "Let  us  flee,  for  the 
Lord  fighteth  for  Israel."  Ex.  xiv.  25.  Unhappy 
people !  that  they  had  not  thought  of  the  Lord  be- 
fore !  But  the  rear-rank,  that  could  not  learn  so 
soon  the  causes  for  dismay,  pressed  still  forward, 
and  all  efforts  to  retreat  only  increased  the  confu- 
sion. And  just  at  the  dreadful  moment  of  their 
21  * 


246  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

greatest  alarm;  when  the  light  shone  at  last  to 
reveal  the  surrounding  perils ;  when  broken  char- 
iots and  maddened  horses  and  bewildered  men 
entangled  each  other  in  inextricable  confusion,  the 
Hebrew  prophet  stretched  forth  his  rod  over  the 
sea.  What  is  man  to  contend  against  his  God? 
What  can  a  city  do  when  fire  kindles  upon  its 
palaces,  and  a  devouring  conflagration  leaps  wildly 
from  square  to  square?  What  can  a  people  do 
when  the  very  air  we  breathe  puts  forth  its  latent 
energies  in  the  resistless  sweep  of  the  hurricane? 
What  are  weapons  of  war,  what  are  human  efforts, 
before  the  mighty  rush  of  billows  ?  The  sea  cov- 
ered Pharaoh,  his  chosen  captains,- and  his  char- 
iots ;  they  sank  like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters. 

With  deep  gratitude  to  God  the  Israelites  led 
on  by  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron, 
sang  a  song  of  triumph  on  the  shore  of  the  Red 
Sea.  She  it  was,  who  fourscore  years  ago  had 
stood  as  a  timid  watcher  by  the  reedy  border 
of  the  Nile,  that  her  infant  brother  might  find 
needful  protection;  and  she  deems  herself  not 
too  old  now  to  lead  forth  the  daughters  of  her 
people  with  the  timbrel  and  in  dances,  to  praise 
the  name  of  their  delivering  God.  This  triumph 
by  the  Red  Sea  is  in  part  the  fruit  of  Miriam's 
watchings  over  her  infant  brother.  How  many 
links  go  to  form  the  chain  of  providence  for 
the  deliverance  of  God's  people;  how  little  can 
we   afford    to   lose    the   slightest   of    them ;    and 


RED   SEA   LESSONS.  247 

how  long  it  may  be,  before  we  can  discern 
the  connection  of  things  like  these,*  Miriam's 
watchings  by  the  river,  Miriam's  triumph  by  the 
sea. 

The  lessons  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  how  many 
things  may  they  instruct  and  console,  and  ani- 
mate us.  When  our  souls  are  not  led  in  the 
nearest  way  to  Canaan;  when  the  leadings  of 
Providence  seem  themselves  to  err;  when  we  are 
entangled  in  the  wilderness  and  no  path  of  relief 
is  open ;  when  perplexities  increase  rather  than  dis- 
perse, and  matters  grow  worse  rather  than  better; 
when  our  enemies  begirt  us  round  with  threat- 
enings  never  before  uttered,  let  us  remember  Is- 
rael at  the  Red  Sea;  let  us  cry  unto  God  as 
did  Moses ;  let  us  move  forward  at  his  com- 
mand. 

No  lesson  is  more  important  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  those  that  put  their  trust  in  the  God  of 
Israel  than  this:  that  the  deliverance  at  the  Red 
Sea  was  wrought  by  Divine  intervention.  And 
every  intelligent  man,  who  reads  devoutly  the 
history  of  our  race  or  who  studies  wisely  his  own 
individual  experience,  can  recall  instances  where 
great  blessings  have  been  secured,  imminent  perils 
averted,  and  signal  deliverances  given,  which  could 
not  justly  be  ascribed  to  the  power  or  wisdom 
of  the  human  actors.  God  rules  in  the  affairs 
of  men  by  providence,  as  truly  and  often  quite 

*  Women  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 


248  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

as  remarkably,  as  in  the  days  of  miracle.  These 
interventions  are  not  so  given  as  to  hinder  hu- 
man duty ;  but  rather  so  as  to  lead  men  to 
acknowledge  and  to  rely  upon  that  Divine  Power 
which  can  make  the  right  successful  against  the 
most  numerous  foes ;  and  to  remind  us  that  noth- 
ing is  more  needful  or  more  reasonable  than  the 
humble  cry  of  distress  in  the  ear  of  a  delivering 
God. 

The  perplexities  of  Abraham  on  Moriah,  Gen. 
xxii.  1 — 10;  the  perplexities  of  Joseph  in  Poti- 
phar's  house,  Gen.  xxxix.  9;  of  Esther  venturing 
before  Ahasuerus,  Esther  v.  2;  of  the  paralytic 
bidden  to  rise  and  walk.  Matt.  ix.  6;  of  the 
man  bidden  to  stretch  forth  his  hand,  Matt.  xii. 
13,  teach  us  Red  Sea  lessons.  Go  forward;  do  as 
God  bids;  for  God  sustains. 

And  the  Red  Sea  lesson  of  triumph  may  re- 
mind us  of  a  greater  triumph.  We  join  the  swell- 
ing anthem, 

"  Sound  the  loud  timbrel  o'er  Egypt's  dark  sea, 
Jehovah  has  triumphed !     His  people  are  free  I" 

But  the  song  of  Moses  at  the  Red  Sea,  but 
reminds  us  of  a  greater  triumph  and  a  nobler 
song, — the  song  of  Moses  and  of  the  Lamb,  Rev. 
XV.  3.  When  the  church  has  gained  her  last 
victory ;  not  with  the  wilderness  before,  but  with 
all  dangers  past ;  not  on  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea, 
but   on   the  sea  of  glass;    not   on   earth   but   in 


RED    SEA    LESSONS.  249 

heaven,  well  may  the  triumphal  song  be  raised. 
The  victory  will  be  due  to  the  Lamb;  and  their 
song  will  be  in  his  praise. 

Happy  day  for  the  friends   of  God!     Alas  for 
his  foes  in  that  hour  of  final  triumph  to  Israel ! 


250  THE   HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

PUOriDENCE  IN  THE  DESEJRT. 

"  When  Israel  of  the  Lord  beloved, 

Out  of  the  land  of  bondage  came, 
Her  fathers'  God  before  her  moved, 

An  awful  guide,  in  smoke  and  flame; 
By  day  along  the  astonished  lands 

The  cloudy  pillar  glided  slow; 
By  night  Arabia's  crimsoned  sands 

Returned  the  fiery  pillar's  glow."  Scott. 

In  the  history  of  the  Israelites  as  recorded  by 
Moses,  and  in  the  commission  of  Moses  himself, 
there  is  a  strange  mingling  of  two  things,  which 
men  are  prone  to  think  quite  discordant.  These 
two  things  are  divine  and  human  agency  employed 
to  effect  just  the  same  things.  We  find  these  ap- 
parently as  distinct  as  possible.  The  people  seem 
left  to  do  for  themselves  just  as  if  God  neither 
provided,  nor  helped;  and  yet  the  divine  relief 
comes  as  they  need  it,  and  beyond  their  power  to 
aid  themselves.  We  find  these  things  even  in 
cases  where  we  would  not  look  for  them;  as  when 
Moses,  though  a  prophet  of  God,  seems  to  receive 
instruction  in  matters  that  pertain  to  the  rule  of 
God's  house,  not  only  from  human  wisdom  and  ex- 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  251 

perience,  but  from  a  man  not  numbered  among  the 
favoured  people  of  God.  Men  are  prone  to  think, 
that  if  God  instructs  his  people,  they  do  not  need 
to  consult  human  wisdom  at  all;  that  especially 
inspiration  precludes  all  dependence  upon  what 
men  may  think ;  and  that  a  time  of  miraculous  in- 
terventions is  a  time  when  neither  our  hearts  nor 
our  hands  need  to  be  employed. 

But  see  this  matter  illustrated  by  two  examples, 
both  occurring  between  the  Red  Sea  and  Sinai. 
That  people  led  forth  by  the  Pillar  of  Divine  guid- 
ance must  march  three  days'  journey  in  the  wilder- 
ness without  water.  Men  who  have  never  been 
twenty-four  hours  thirsting  in  all  their  lives,  can 
form  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  sufferings  that  come 
upon  the  human  frame  for  a  short  time  deprived 
of  water.  Doubtless  the  Israelites  had  carried 
some  water  with  them,  but  a  supply  totally  inade- 
quate; and  three  days  of  thirst,  to  a  vast  multi- 
tude like  this,  must  have  produced  great  distress. 
And  even  when  they  came  to  water,  this  distress 
was  heightened  by  finding  that  it  was  bitter. 

It  is  thought  that  Marah  and  Elim  can  both  be 
recognized  at  the  present  day.  The  Arabs  regard 
the  water  as  the  worst  along  the  coast;*  but  its 
bad  qualities  vary  with  different  times  of  the  year. 
Camels  however  will  drink  the  water;  and  perhaps 
it  appeared  worse  to  the  Israelites,  because  they 
had  been  all  their  lives  accustomed  to  the  excellent 

*  Kitto's  Daily  Illustrations. 


252  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

water  of  the  Nile.  How  great  the  disappointment 
of  the  thirsty  multitude  to  find  water  that  was  un- 
fit to  drink!  But  their  consolation  must  come 
from  Divine  power.  At  the  prayer  of  Moses,  the 
Lord  showed  a  tree,  which  being  cast  into  the  wa- 
ter healed  its  bitterness.  Search  has  been  made 
in  the  desert  for  some  tree  or  shrub,  having  medi- 
cal properties  equal  to  the  correcting  of  the  waters, 
but  we  have  no  reason  to  judge  that  this  healing 
was  through  the  natural  virtue  of  any  wood. 

After  thirst  comes  hunger.  The  people  passed 
on  from  their  encampment  at  Elim;  but  their  sup- 
plies of  food  began  to  fail.  Doubtless  they  car- 
ried with  them  but  a  small  store  of  provisions;  and 
their  flocks  and  herds  may  have  been  the  private 
property  of  comparatively  but  a  few  persons  in 
the  camp.  A  uew  series  of  murmurings  therefore 
began  against  their  great  leaders.  They  com- 
plained that  they  had  not  been  left  in  Egypt;  but 
had  been  brought  away  from  a  land  of  plenty  to 
perish  in  the  wilderness.  In  answer  to  their  ne- 
cessities the  Lord  declared  by  Moses  how  he  would 
provide  food  for  them  in  the  desert.  Two  kinds  of 
food  were  provided  for  them. 

First.  There  was  a  supply  of  quails  brought 
into  the  camp  upon  which  the  people  fed.  There 
is  a  species  of  quail,  "about  the  size  of  a  turtle- 
dove," found  now  in  those  regions.  If  they  came 
in  any  such  flocks  as  the  wild  pigeons  of  our  west- 
ern continent,  we  can   easily  understand  that   the 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  253 

entire  congregation  would  be  supplied.  This  bird 
is  often  fatigued  by  its  long  flight  in  crossing  the 
waters,  and  flies  so  low  as  to  become  an  easy  prey. 
We  are  not  led  to  believe  that  this  supply  of  food 
was  permanent.  We  read,  a  year  afterwards,  of  a 
similar  flight  of  birds  upon  the  camp,  Numb.  xi. 
31,  but  doubtless  the  quails  now  sent  afibrded  food 
to  the  congregation  for  but  a  few  days. 

Secondly.  A  more  permanent  and  abundant  sup- 
ply of  food  was  given  in  the  manna  that  now  fell 
around  the  camp,  and  was  granted  to  the  wander- 
ing people  from  this  time  forward,  until  they 
passed  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  desert  and  en- 
tered the  land  of  Canaan. 

We  do  not  know  the  qualities  or  taste  of  this 
food,  miraculously  provided  for  Israel  in  their 
journeys.  We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  it 
resembled  at  all,  what  we  now  call  manna ;  or  that 
the  gum  now  gathered  from  the  shrubs  in  that  wil- 
derness is  at  all  like  it.  Modern  mannas  are  con- 
diments or  medicinal;  the  manna  of  the  wilderness 
was  nutritious,  g-nd  used  for  food.  The  people  had 
never  seen  the  like  of  this  before;  and  when  they 
saw  it,  they  said  one  to  another,  Manhu?  What 
is  this?  Hence  the  name  Manna.  Moses  told 
them  it  was  the  bread  by  which  God  would  support 
them.  Its  appearance  was  as  small  globules,  like 
the  hoar-frost,  or  "coriander  seed;"  its  colour,  the 
colour  of  bdellium,  i.  e.  a  yellowish  white,  Numb, 
xi.  7 ;  its  taste  is  doubly  described  as  like  cakes 

Vol.  I.— 22 


254  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

slightly  sweetened  with  honey;  and  as  like  fresh 
oil.  Ex.  xvi.  31,  Num.  xi.  8.  The  mode  of  pre- 
paring it  may  have  varied  the  taste. 

If  disposed  to  wonder  at  the  supply  of  food  thus 
furnished  in  the  pathless  wilderness  for  the  susten- 
ance of  so  large  a  body  of  people,  surely  we  need 
not  doubt  that  Divine  pov/er  could  thus  meet  their 
daily  need.  For,  every  day  of  the  world's  history, 
immensely  larger  bounties  are  scattered  through 
all  the  earth  by  the  liberality  of  the  God  of  provi- 
dence. Year  after  year,  century  after  century 
since  he  created  the  world,  has  God  given  his  sun 
to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sent  his 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust.  Not  one  single 
day  has  ever  failed  of  his  care  towards  the  children 
of  men.  Famines  have  indeed  come,  harvests 
have  failed,  want  has  been  felt;  as  the  Israelites 
hungered  and  thirsted  in  the  desert,  that  man  may 
learn  whence  his  blessings  come.  Yet  in  an  im- 
portant sense,  not  a  day  has  ever  passed  without 
God's  providential  supplies  in  all  the  earth,  to 
which  every  exception  has  been  slight  and  partial. 

And  who  can  reckon  the  vast  supply  that  is  nec- 
essary for  the  food  of  a  single  day  in  all  the 
earth?  How  much  does  one  great  city  consume  in 
a  single  day?  How  much  this  entire  land?  How 
much  populous  China?  How  much  all  the  men  in 
the  world?  How  much  the  cattle?  How  much 
all  the  living  beings  in  the  earth  and  sea?  It  is 
no  slight  thing  to  say,  "These  all  wait  upon  him, 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  255 

and  he  gives  them  their  meat  in  due  season." 
And  as  the  manna  lay  upon  the  ground,  so  out  of 
the  earth  ultimately,  all  living  things  are  fed. 
And  as  the  manna  fell  morning  by  morning,  so 
vast  multitudes  upon  the  earth  know  not  with  each 
rising  morning,  whence  their  daily  bread  must 
come.  Every  day  the  God  of  providence  does 
greater  things  than  feed  the  nation  of  Israel. 
The  miracle  of  the  manna  is  worthy  of  our  admira- 
tion not  so  much  for  its  magnitude,  as  for  its  in- 
structive teachings. 

The  manna  in  the  wilderness  was  not  simply  a 
miracle,  but  a  combination  of  miracles.  That  it 
fell  regularly  every  morning;  thai  the  quantity 
that  fell  and  even  that  which  each  man  gathered 
was  neither  in  defect  nor  excess;  that  the  supply 
was  regularly  cut  off  upon  the  Sabbath  when  it 
was  unlawful  to  gather  it;  that  twice  the  usual 
quantity  regularly  fell  upon  the  day  before  the 
Sabbath;  that  it  would  keep  sweet  over  the  Sab- 
bath, and  not  over  any  other  day;  that  a  small 
portion,  laid  up  in  the  ark  for  a  testimony,  kept 
for  several  hundred  years,  until  destroyed  in  the 
burning  of  Solomon's  temple;  and  that  after  sup- 
plying them  forty  years,  the  manna  ceased  the 
very  day  they  ceased  to  need  it :  all  these  are  re- 
markable matters. 

And  evidently  the  Sabbath  was  a  religious  and 
familiar  ordinance  before  the  law  was  given  on 
Sinai.     It  is  no  disproof  of  this,  that  some  of  the 


256  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

people  thought  to  gather  manna  on  the  Sabbath. 
These  may  have  been  irreligious  persons,  who 
knew,  but  disregarded  the  law;*  or  of  the  "mixed 
multitude,"  who  knew  it  not;  or  Israelites  who  in 
the  bondage  were  forced  to  labour  upon  the  Sab- 
bath. But  at  the  most,  they  were  exceptions; 
and  even  they  knew  enough  to  justify  the  indigna- 
tion of  Moses  for  their  Sabbath-breaking.  But 
here  is  plain  proof  afforded  that  the  Sabbath  is  a 
religious  institution,  dating  back  to  the  beginning, 
and  not  finding  its  origin  at  Sinai;  a  law  for  the 
race,  and  in  no  just  sense  a  merely  Jewish  law;  and 
essentially  requiring  rest  from  ordinary  labour. 
And  the  Divine  regard  for  the  Sabbath,  and  the 
Divine  care  that  man  should  not  labour  upon  this 
holy  day,  are  seen  in  the  remarkable  fact  "  that 
three  miracles  were  wrought  every  week  in  special 
honour  of  the  Sabbath:  double  the  quantity  fell 
the  day  before;  none  fell  on  the  Sabbath-day;  nor 
did  that  corrupt  which  they  kept  for  that  day."* 

We  may  easily  know  the  design  of  these  Divine 
teachings.  The  children  of  Israel  were  allowed  to 
suffer  thirst  and  hunger  until  distress  invaded 
their  camp,  before  the  Lord  afforded  them  relief. 
The  Israelites  were  under  Divine  teachings;  they 
were  scholars  learning  lessons  of  Divine  wisdom; 
and  we  are  chiefly  to  regard  the  tendencies  of 
their  experience.  Every  wise  teacher  aims  to  call 
forth  the  capacities   of  the  pupil.     He  therefore 

*  Scott. 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  257 

will  not  solve  for  him  his  hard  problems ;  he 
wishes  him  to  solve  them;  and  this  not  for  the 
value  of  the  solution,  but  for  the  knowledge  and 
skill  thereby  acquired.  God  did  not  design  merely 
to  feed  his  people  in  the  desert.  Had  this  alone 
been  his  purpose,  they  would  never  have  known  a 
want  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Jordan.  But  he  ex- 
pressly declares  that  he  led  them  forty  years 
through  the  wilderness  to  humble  them,  to  prove 
them,  to  try  their  hearts;  he  suffered  them  to  hun- 
ger that  they  might  know  that  man  truly  lives  by 
every  word  that  proceeds  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord.  Deut.  viii.  2,  3.  The  life  of  man  is  not  the 
mere  keeping  together  of  this  soul  and  this  body. 
No  man  has  a  true  appreciation  of  his  own  life, 
who  is  not  ready  to  die,  rather  than  to  do  many 
things.  Indeed  that  only  is  a  true  life  that  is 
subject  in  all  things  to  the  authority  of  God. 
Spiritual  life  is  the  true  life  of  man.  Whatever 
promotes  this  is  chiefly  valuable  to  us. 

When  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  time  of  his 
temptation  in  the  wilderness,  suffered  the  pangs  of 
hunger,  and  Satan  attempted  to  lead  him  to  do 
that  which  in  his  estate  of  humiliation  was  equiva- 
lent to  a  distrust  of  God's  providence,  he  replied 
by  quoting  these  words  of  Moses,  "Man  doth 
not  live  by  bread  alone."  And  this  is  not  only 
the  lesson  of  Israel's  wanderings  in  the  wilderness 
of  Sinai,  but  the  lesson  of  all  the  Bible;  and  the 
lesson  we   are  constantly  taught  by  the  dispensa- 

22  * 


258  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

tions  of  God's  providence.  God  fed  the  people  by 
the  daily  manna;  he  gave  them  water  from  the 
flinty  rock ;  he  preserved  their  garments  from 
waxing  old  in  their  marches ;  yet  hunger  and  thirst 
and  anxiety  were  sent  upon  them;  and  the  faith 
of  some  and  the  distrust  of  others  were  called 
forth.  And  thus  he  deals  with  us.  Whether  we 
have  lived  twenty  years,  or  forty,  or  sixty,  our 
daily  food  has  not  been  lacking;  and  yet  care  and 
toil  and  anxiety  have  been  our  lot.  God  has  so 
managed  our  affairs  as  to  try  our  hearts.  He  fed 
the  Israelites  day  by  day;  and  he  feeds  us  like 
this.  We  crave  more  than  promises  to  live  upon; 
and  yet  he  never  allows  us  to  see  very  far  in  ad- 
vance. It  seems  sometimes  as  if  we  could  not  get 
along  without  distrusting  him.  If  we  had  but  our- 
selves to  support,  we  think  it  might  be  different; 
but  we  must  care  for  our  families.  Perhaps  a 
man  is  required,  by  those  in  whose  employment  he 
is  engaged,  to  labour  upon  the  Sabbath  day;  and 
the  alternative  seems  to  be,  "do  this,  or  suffer." 
Here  is  the  temptation.  We  are  asked  to  offend 
God  that  we  may  not  offend  man;  to  give  up  spir- 
itual bread  that  we  may  not  lose  our  temporal;  to 
die  spiritually  that  we  may  live  naturally.  We 
must  remember  that  man  does  not  live  by  bread 
alone.  And  it  is  impossible — still  more,  when  we 
carefully  consider  the  case,  it  is  quite  undesirable 
— that  we  should  be  free  from  these  perplexities. 
Every  condition  of  life  is  subject  to  them;   if  not 


PROVIDENCE    IN   THE    DESERT.  259 

in  one  form,  yet  in  another;  and  all  our  thoughts 
are  vain  which  lead  us  to  hope  that  by  changing 
our  circumstances  we  can  be  free  from  these  har- 
assing cares.  They  are  inseparable  from  the  les- 
sons of  life;  and  to  m«et  them  wisely  is  the  best 
use  of  life.  As  a  scholar  in  passing  from  one 
class  to  another  changes  his  lessons  with  the  con- 
tinual necessity  for  thoughtful  study;  as  the  Is- 
raelites all  the  way  through  the  desert  met  with 
new  trials;  so  we  must  meet  these  difficulties  of 
life.  Nor  can  we  be  unfeeling  under  them.  And 
the  discipline  we  must  thus  undergo,  may  be  as 
perfect  in  minor  as  in  greater  things;  in  an  hum- 
ble as  in  an  exalted  sphere.  Many  a  thorough 
scholar  has  gone  forth  from  a  log  school-house, 
having  learned  his  lessons  from  a  well-thumbed 
spelling-book,  or  a  second-hand  arithmetic;  and 
many  a  dunce  has  heard  the  lectures  of  learned 
professors  in  the  dignified  halls  of  a  university. 
We  must  not  judge  of  an  education  merely  by  its 
appliances;  however  much  we  prize  the  training 
of  careful  and  competent  teachers.  And  for  our- 
selves nothing  is  more  important  than  that  we 
should  carefully  study  what  are  the  lessons  our 
Great  Teacher  wishes  us  to  learn.  God  taught 
the  Israelites  the  better  by  putting  them  into 
straits ;  by  showing  them  their  weakness ;  by 
calling  forth  their  prayers;  and  by  displaying  his 
grace  to  help.  And  our  experience  is,  that  many 
a  trouble  has  threatened  us  that  never  hurt  us; 


260  THE    HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

that  we  have  passed  through  many  a  difficulty 
easier  than  we  hoped;  and  that  the  imaginary 
fears  of  the  future  have  been  more  vexatious  than 
the  griefs  we  have  realized.  Let  us  look  upon 
these  things  as  trials,  for  so  they  are;  and  let  us 
covet  the  blessedness  of  the  man  who  is  able  to  en- 
dure temptation. 

We  should  look  upon  these  trials  of  life  much  as 
we  look  upon  the  training  of  our  children.  We 
cannot  help  our  anxieties  for  them  so  long  as  we 
are  with  them.  Yet  we  must  not  let  these  anxie- 
ties deprive  them  of  the  substantial  benefits  of  that 
discipline  which  can  only  be  secured  by  contact 
with  the  very  things  we  dread.  We  are  often 
prompted  to  spare  them  all  possible  exposures  to 
fatigue  and  danger  and  temptation;  we  are  dis- 
posed to  amass  for  them  such  a  property  as  will 
put  them  beyond  the  fear  of  want,  or  at  least  lift 
from  them  the  burden  of  anxious  exertion;  we 
multiply  our  own  cares  by  trying  to  carry  all  that 
they  should  bear.  And  yet  wisdom  tells  us,  that 
their  energies  of  mind  and  body  should  be  devel- 
oped; and  this  can  only  be,  by  due  exercise  in 
those  very  matters,  from  which  we  too  carefully 
hold  them  back.  And  experience  tells  us  that  the 
most  useful  and  successful  men  have  acquired  their 
own  property,  all  the  better  because  none  had 
been  laid  up  for  them  by  their  parents;  and  that 
accumulated  treasures  laid  up  for  our  children  are 
like  the  manna  of  the  desert,  which  some  of  the 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  261 

disobedient  Israelites  would  keep  for  to-morrow's 
use;  and  which  to-morrow  "bred  worms  and 
stank."  It  is  a  wise  training  of  our  children  and 
a  wise  discipline  of  ourselves,  that  uses  all  the 
eveuts  of  life  as  the  Israelites  used  the  manna. 
They  lived  upon  it,  day  by  day.  And  as  each 
mouthful  of  the  manna,  insignificant  in  itself,  yet 
formed  part  of  the  nourishment  for  the  body's 
strength,  so  each  event  of  life  is  in  God's  provi- 
dence designed  to  call  forth  the  actings  of  the  spir- 
itual life.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  eat  bread  to- 
day that  will  save  us  from  needing  bread  again 
next  week,  or  even  to-morrow;  it  is  not  possible  to 
lay  up  your  strength  for  the  body  of  any  other 
person.  Nor  are  these  things  desirable.  Each 
man  must  live  his  own  life,  and  day  by  day;  and 
the  profitable  use  of  to-day  is  the  fitting  prepara- 
tive for  a  happy  to-morrow. 

Moreover  we  are  taught  that  the  same  methods 
of  providence,  the  same  calling  forth  of  our  own 
faculties,  may  be  expected  in  all  matters  of  life. 
There  is  no  period  of  life  to  which  we  can  look  for- 
ward; there  are  no  duties  to  which  we  can  be 
called,  where  we  may  expect  Divine  aid,  except 
as  we  are  willing  also  to  use  the  wisdom  and  the 
opportunities  providentially  afibrded.  If  there  is 
any  case  where  we  would  expect  direct  Divine 
teachings,  without  regard  to  the  promptings  of  hu- 
man wisdom  or  human  experience,  surely  it  would 
be  in  providing  rules  for  the  government  of  God's 


262  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

people.  The  father-in-law  of  Moses  paid  him  a 
visit  in  the  encampment  of  Israel,  having  heard  of 
the  great  things  done  for  them  against  Egypt. 
After  affectionate  salutations,  Moses  told  him,  more 
at  large,  the  wonders  of  their  deliverance;  and 
Jethro  rejoiced  with  him,  and  joined  him  in  sacrifi- 
ces to  the  Lord.  But  the  next  day,  perceiving  the 
laborious  methods  by  which  Moses  administered 
justice  to  the  congregation,  he  found  fault  with 
him  for  hearing  alike  the  most  trivial  and  the  most 
important  cases.  He  suggested  therefore  that  a 
different  arrangement  should  be  adopted: — That 
the  people  should  be  divided  into  classes,  superior 
and  inferior,  with  judges  over  each;  and  that  ref- 
erences of  only  the  more  important  and  difl&cult 
cases  should  be  made  to  the  superior  tribunals. 
The  wisdom  of  this  counsel  is  apparent;  it  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  that  which  now  prevails 
among  ourselves,  both  in  the  state  and  in  the 
church. 

But  the  peculiar  interest  of  this  wise  counsel 
lies  in  the  fact  that  although  Moses  was  an  in- 
spired prophet,  and  though  we  may  assign  to 
him  the  superior  place  among  the  men  of  his  age, 
yet  he  adopted  an  imperfect  and  unwise  system 
of  judgment;  and  that  a  much  better  one  was 
suggested  by  a  man  who  in  form  at  least,  did 
not  belong  to  the  congregation  of  the  Lord.  And 
we  may  justly  regard  the  whole  matter  as  securing 
the  Divine  approval.     We  are  not  expressly  told 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    DESERT.  263 

this;  but  the  very  silence  of  the  narrative  shows 
it.  For  though  God  rebuked  the  people  for 
errors  in  less  serious  matters,  there  is  no  re- 
proof for  the  adoption  of  this  advice.  We  are 
thus  taught  to  prize  human  wisdom  and  experience 
in  the  government  of  the  house  of  God.  That 
there  are  dangers  from  using  human  expedients — 
especially  when  human  pride  or  passion  suggests 
them — we  may  readily  grant;  but  when  we  see 
Moses  hearkening  to  the  wisdom  of  Jethro;  and 
when  we  find  the  Apostles  of  Christ  discussing 
the  great  question  relative  to  the  terms  upon 
which  the  Gentiles  should  find  admission  to  the 
church ;  and  when  we  recognize  that  both  he 
and  they  were  influenced  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
though  thus  wisely  using  the  teachings  of  human 
experience,  we  may  believe  that  even  the  influ- 
ences of  inspiration  were  not  designed  to  super- 
sede the  intelligent  use  of  our  own  faculties ;  that 
God  has  ever  granted  freedom  to  his  people  in  the 
external  ordering  of  his  house;  and  that  our  due 
dependence  upon  Divine  guidance  and  our  earnest 
prayers  for  the  influences  of  God's  Holy  Spirit 
upon  our  studies  and  deliberations  and  conclusions, 
are  entirely  consistent  with  the  use  of  all  advice  and 
argument  and  experience  to  learn  the  truth.  God 
never  deals  with  us  as  if  we  were  slaves,  who  must 
be  directed  to  every  duty;  but  as  sons  and  free- 
men, who  are  to  be  taught  and  disciplined;  and 
he  is  most  honoured  when  a  cheerful  and  intelligent 


264  THE    HEBREAV    LAWGIVER. 

people  learn  and  do  his  will.  And  the  line  of  dis- 
tinction is  broad  between  human  institutions  in 
Divine  worship  that  contravene  the  principles  of 
Scriptural  teachings,  and  those  appointments  for 
which  no  direct  Divine  warrant  is  claimed,  which 
are  in  full  keeping  with  the  simplicity  of  the  gos- 
pel and  which  fall  under  the  Apostle's  general 
rule,  "Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in 
order." 


THE  SMITTEN  ROCK.  265 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

TUE  SMITTEN  ROCK. 

"  They  thirst ;  and  waters  from  the  rock 
In  rich  abundance  flow." 

We  need  not  carefully  note  the  route  of  the  Is- 
raelites through  the  desert,  or  repeat  the  names  of 
their  stopping-places.  A  record  of  these  is  made 
for  us  in  the  book  of  Numbers,  ch.  xxxiii.  We 
may  learn  this  lesson  evidently,  that  to  meet  with 
unexpected  difficulties  is  no  proof  that  we  are  not 
in  the  path  of  duty.  Who  ever  met  with  more 
trials  than  the  people  whom  God  himself  guided  ? 

It  was  not  long  after  they  left  Elim  and  its 
palm  trees,  that  the  people  again  suffered  for  the 
w^ant  of  water.  Nor  need  we  either  marvel  at 
them  or  censure  harshly  their  murmurings  against 
Moses,  since  alas !  we  may  find  in  their  rebellions 
too  fitting  a  type  of  our  own  disposition  to  forget 
former  mercies,  when  we  feel  the  pressure  of  new 
distresses.  Their  exasperation  was  so  great  that 
Moses  even  stood  in  peril  of  his  life.  The  Divine 
forbearance  is  shown  towards  the  complaining  mul- 
titude ;  and   Moses  was  directed  to  take  with  him 

Vol.  I.— 23 


26G  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

the  elders  of  the  people,  and  to  strike  a  certain 
rock  with  his  wonder-working  rod ;  and  water 
should  come  forth  for  the  supply  of  the  camp. 
Moses  did  so ;  and  a  full  supply  of  water  was  im- 
mediately secured. 

Several  things  are  worthy  of  our  attention  in 
reference  to  this  rock,  and  the  water  thus  issuing 
from  it. 

(1.)  We  may  notice  what  travellers  say  concern- 
ing the  rock  as  it  is  found  at  the  present  day. 

The  traveller  through  these  regions  is  shown  a 
very  remarkable  rock,  at  some  distance  from  Roph- 
idim,  where  the  Israelites  were  encamped,  hut  so 
situated  that  a  strong  stream  of  water  would  flow 
down  the  ravines  to  the  camp ;  and  this  rock,  it  is 
claimed,  is  the  one  smitten  by  the  rod  of  Moses. 
The  impression  produced  upon  difi'erent  travellers 
is  various ;  some  regard  the  attempt  to  point  out 
the  rock  as  resulting  from  the  mingled  superstition 
and  imposition  that  have  discovered  and  rever- 
enced so  many  sacred  places  without  any  satisfac- 
tory evidence;  and  some  are  clearly  convinced 
that  the  rock  bears  evidence  for  itself,  that  just 
such  a  miracle  was  once  wrought  there. 

Mr.  Stephens  says  *'The  gashes  (in  the  rock) 
are  singular  in  their  appearance — they  look  some- 
thing like  the  gashes  in  the  bark  of  a  growing 
tree;  except  that,  instead  of  the  lips  of  the  gash 
swelling  and  growing  over,  they  are  worn,  and  re- 
duced  to  a  polished  smoothness.      They   are  no 


THE    SMITTEN    ROCK.  267 

doubt  the  work  of  men's  hands,  a  clumsy  artifice 
of  the  early  monks  to  touch  the  hearts  of  pious  pil- 
grims."* 

Dr.  Robinson  does  not  think  the  holes  are  arti- 
ficial; but  he  declares;  "As  to  this  rock,  one  is  at 
a  loss  whether  most  to  admire  the  credulity  of  the 
monks,  or  the  legendary  and  discrepant  reports  of 
travellers.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark,  that 
there  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  assuming  any 
connection  between  this  narrow  valley  and  Reph- 
idim;  but  on  the  contrary  there  is  every  thing 
against  it."t  He  thinks  the  singularity  of  the 
rock  led  the  monks  to  select  it  as  the  supposed 
scene  of  the  miracle. 

Other  travellers  however  give  entirely  a  difier- 
ent  view  of  the  matter.  Let  it  suffice  to  quote  the 
opinions  of  two  other  American  travellers.  Dr. 
Olin  says,  "The  colour  and  whole  appearance  of 
the  rock  are  such  that,  if  seen  elsewhere  and  dis- 
connected from  all  traditions,  no  one  would  hesi- 
tate to  believe  that  they  (the  holes  in  the  rock) 
had  been  produced  by  water  flowing  from  these  fis- 
sures. I  think  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to 
form  these  fissures  or  produce  these  appearances 
by  art.  It  is  not  less  difficult  to  believe  that  a 
natural  fountain  should  flow  at  the  height  of  a 
dozen  feet  out  of  the  face  of  an  isolated  rock. 
Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  water  was  brought  out 
of  a  rock  belonging  to  this  mountain,  I  can  see 

*  Incidents  of  Travel,  i.  f  Bib.  Res.  i.  166. 


268  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

nothing  incredible  in  the  opinion  that  this  is  the 
identical  rock,  and  that  these  fissures  and  the 
other  appearances  should  be  regarded  as  evidences 
of  the  fact."* 

Dr.  Durbin  came  there  with  his  mind  made  up 
that  the  whole  story  touching  this  rock,  as  the  one 
smitten  by  the  lawgiver,  was  .a  monkish  fable. 
But  when  he  actually  saw  the  rock,  all  his  doubts 
vanished.  He  confesses  that  more  impression  was 
made  upon  him  by  that  stone,  than  by  any  other 
natural  object  claiming  to  attest  a  miracle.  He 
affirms  that  any  geologist,  coming  across  such  a 
rock  as  that,  ignorant  of  the  miracle  of  Moses, 
and  aware  that  its  situation  was  not  favourable  to 
such  a  conclusion,  would  still  decide,  "that  strong 
and  long-continued  fountains  of  water  had  once 
poured  their  gurgling  currents  from  it  and  over  it. 
He  would  not  waver  in  his  belief  for  a  moment,  so 
natural  and  so  perfect  are  the  indications.  I 
examined  it  thoroughly,  and  if  it  be  a  forgery,  I 
am  satisfied,  for  my  own  part,  that  a  greater  than 
Michael  Angelo  designed  and  executed  it.  I  can- 
not dij0fer  from  Shaw's  opinion  that  'neither  art 
nor  chance,  could  by  any  means  be  concerned  in 
the  contrivance  of  these  holes,  which  formed  so 
many  fountains.'  The  more  I  gazed  upon  the 
irregular,  mouth-like  chasms  in  the  rock,  the  more 
I  found  my  skepticism  shaken;  and  at  last  I  could 
not  help  asking  myself,  whether  it  was  not  a  very 

*  Travels  in  the  East,  i.  417. 


THE    SMITTEN    ROCK.  269 

natural  solution  of  the  matter,  that  this  was  indeed 
the  rock  which  Moses  struck,  that  from  it  the 
waters    gushed    forth,    and    poured    their    streams 

down  (the  valleys) to  Rephidim,  where 

Israel  was  encamped  perishing  with  thirst."* 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  much  importance  to  deter- 
mine the  place  where  this  wonder  was  wrought; 
yet  we  naturally  take  an  interest  in  inquiries  of 
this  nature.  We  should  neither  be  too  supersti- 
tious nor  too  incredulous  respecting  scenes  of 
such  interest.  It  would  appear  that  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood near  the  foot  of  Sinai  the  Israelites  were 
encamped  for  about  a  year ;  and  during  this  period 
they  were  supplied  with  water  from  this  rock, 
which  flowed  forth  in  a  steady  stream  passing 
down  towards  the  Red  Sea. 

(2.)  But  we  may  next  notice  the  supply  thus 
furnished  to  the  people.  We  have  said  that  they 
remained  at  Horeb  nearly  a  year.  (See  Numb.  x. 
12.)  They  may  easily  therefore  during  that  time 
have  received  their  supplies  of  water  from  the 
stream  that  issued  from  this  rock.  But  it  is 
remarkable  that  only  upon  a  few  occasions  is  there 
any  mention  made  of  their  needing  water  after 
this.  We  are  not  indeed  bound  to  suppose  that 
every  miracle  wrought  by  Moses  is  recorded ;  the 
brevity  of  the  narrative  may  exclude  many.  Com- 
pare John  xxi.  25.  Twice  after  this,  we  read  of 
water  being  given  to  the  people;  once  at  Meribah 

*  Observations  on  the  East,  i.  149. 
23  * 


270  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

from  the  rock  amidst  the  murmurings  of  the  peo- 
ple, at  which  time  Moses  offended  God;  and  again 
wells  were  dug  by  the  lawgiver's  direction.  See 
Numb.  XX.,  xxi.  But  both  of  these  instances 
occurred  many  years  after  this.  It  may  be  that 
they  often  dug  wells  in  the  desert,  of  which  no 
record  is  made.  There  is  no  natural  supply  of 
sufficient  water  for  so  large  a  multitude  anywhere 
in  that  sterile  region,*  "unless  water  was  anciently 
far  more  abundant  in  these  regions  than  at  pres- 
ent." 

But  the  Jewish  rabbis,  and  even  some  Christian 
commentators,  including  Tertullian,  and  among 
moderns  Archbishop  Usher,  have  thought  that  this 
rock  followed  the  Israelites  all  through  the  desert,  f 
and  furnished  them  with  water  almost  all  the  way. 
And  this  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  Dr.  Watts  in 
his  version  of  Ps.  cv.,  where  he  speaks  of  this 
rock, 

"  That  following  still  the  course  they  took 
Ran  all  the  desert  through." 

Some  suppose  that  the  rock,  others  that  the 
stream  flowing  from  it,  followed  them  through  all 
the  desert.  The  chief  argument  relied  upon  to 
prove  this,  is  drawn  from  the  words  of  Paul, 
"They  drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  that  followed 
them."  1  Cor.  x.  4. 

We  have  no  reason  to  judge  that  either  the  rock, 

*  Bib.  Res.,  i.  106.  f  Shuckford's  Con.,  iii  38. 


THE    SMITTEN    ROCK.  271 

or  the  water  from  the  rock,  followed  the  people 
during  the  journeyings  of  the  next  thirty-seven 
years.  But  it  seems  quite  likely  that  a  large 
stream  of  water  came  forth  from  the  rock  as  smit- 
ten by  Moses.  So  we  find  him  mingling  the  dust 
of  the  golden  calf  with  the  water  of  the  brook  that 
flowed  down  from  the  mount.  Deut.  ix.  21.  Per- 
haps this  brook  flowed  ofi"  through  the  desert  into 
the  Red  Sea  by  such  a  course  that  the  people 
might  often  cross  it  during  the  wanderings  of  the 
next  thirty-seven  years ;  and  it  was  not  until  they 
entirely  left  the  southern  part  of  their  meandering 
route,  passing  from  Ezion-Geber  northward,  that 
they  began  again  to  complain  that  they  wanted 
water.  In  this  sense  the  brook  may  have  accom- 
panied their  march;  that  they  crossed  it  sufficiently 
often  to  secure  from  it  the  water  they  needed. 

(3.)  But  let  us  not  overlook  the  teachings  of 
the  Apostle  that  this  rock  had  a  spiritual  signifi- 
cancy,  and  typified  Christ.  He  does  not  mean 
that  the  rock  was  anything  more  than  a  rock ;  or 
the  water  than  water.  He  expressly  says  that 
God  was  displeased  with  many  who  drank  of  that 
water:  his  very  object  is  to  show  that  external 
advantages  may  be  enjoyed  without  spiritual  profit. 
But  as  the  manna  that  nourished  their  bodies  was 
also  a  type  of  that  living  food  which  God  gives  us 
for  the  life  of  the  soul;  so  the  stream  from  the 
smitten  rock  signified  the  plenteous  and  reviving 
grace  of   Christ.     "The  rock   was   Christ,"   says 


272  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Augustine,  "not  as  to  substance,  but  as  to  signifi- 
cation." "Christ,"  says  Luther,  "was  signified 
by  the  corporeal  rock  of  Moses."* 

And  these  points  of  likeness  between  Christ  and 
the  rock  smitten  in  Horeb  have  been  suggested  by 
an  old  Latin  writer. 

(1.)  As  water  seems  unlikely  to  flow  from  a 
rock,  so  Christ  crucified,  the  offence  of  the  Jews 
and  the  foolishness  of  the  Gentiles,  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation. 

(2.)  As  waters  flowed  from  the  rock,  so  grace — 
the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  so  often  spoken  of  as  water 
— is  from  Christ. 

(3.)  As  the  rock  gave  forth  no  water  until 
smitten,  so  only  by  a  crucified  Christ  is  our  salva- 
tion secured. 

(4.)  The  rock  was  smitten  by  the  rod  of  Moses, 
for  he  was  the  minister  of  the  law,  under  whose 
curse  Christ  sufi'ered. 

(5.)  A  great  abundance  of  water  flowed  forth 
from  the  smitten  rock;  as  fulness  of  grace  is  in 
Christ. 

(6.)  How  vivid  the  comparison  between  a  supply 
of  water  to  the  travellers  in  that  desert,  and 
salvation  to  the  thirsty  pilgrims  in  this  wilderness- 
world. 

(7.)  As  the  rock  supplied  them  long;  so  Christ's 
grace  never  fails. 

"But  in  this  comparison,"  says  the  same  writer, 

*  Turrettine  De  Pgtra  Christo,  iv.  362. 


THE    SMITTEN    KOCK.  273 

"manifold  distinctions  should  also  be  made.  The 
rock  of  Moses  was  inanimate;  Christ  is  the  living 
and  life-giving  Rock.  That  had  no  waters  in  its 
bosom;  Christ  is  the  fountain  of  life  and  of  his 
fulness  have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace. 
John  i.  16.  That,  for  a  time,  not  permanently, 
allayed  bodily  thirst;  but  Christ  so  gives  us  to 
drink  his  living  water  that  we  thirst  no  more. 
John  iv.  14.  That  could  not  follow  the  Israelites; 
but  Christ  ever  attends  his  people.  Redeemed 
from  spiritual  Egypt;  brought  through  the  Red 
Sea  of  his  own  blood;  and  led  by  the  lamp  of  his 
word  through  the  desert  of  this  world,  he  nourishes 
them  with  celestial  manna,  and  refreshes  them 
with  living  water,  until  they  come  to  the  celestial 
Canaan.  There  they  shall  hunger  no  more,  and 
thirst  no  more,  neither  shall  the  heat  nor  sun 
smite  them;  for  the  Lamb  who  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  shall  lead  them — not  to  streams — but 
to  living  and  perennial  fountains  of  waters,  and 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." 
Rev.  vii.  16.* 

No  figure  of  the  Scriptures  is  more  frequently 
applied  to  Christ  than  that  of  a  rock.  And  we 
have  often  sung  in  humble  devotion, 

"  Rock  of  Ages  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 

But  if  he  is  "the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a 

*  Turrettine,  iv.  367. 


274  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

weary  land,"  there  is  even  more  significancy  in 
the  type  of  that  rock  in  Horeb  that  poured  out  its 
waters  to  refresh  that  thirsting  people. 

What  a  scene  for  a  painter's  pencil*  would  be 
Moses  smiting  the  rock,  and  the  waters  flowing 
down  to  the  eager  multitude.  Travellers  in  those 
parched  lands  have  described  the  rapid  rush  of 
man  and  beast  to  taste  the  desired  portion.  Some 
would  bathe  their  very  faces  deep  in  the  flowing 
stream;  some  would  drink  and  drink  again,  as  if 
they  never  could  be  satisfied;  some  would  taste 
for  themselves  and  then  hasten  to  bear  a  precious 
draught  to  the  feeble  and  the  sick,  who  were  un- 
able to  draw  near  the  flowing  waters. 

And  Christ  in  the  desert  of  this  world,  is  sweeter 
far,  and  more  refreshing  far,  than  the  flowing  wa- 
ters of  that  smitten  rock.  Ho,  every  one  that 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters !  The  Spirit  and 
the  Bride  say.  Come;  and  whosoever  will  let  him 
take  of  the  water  of  life  freely. 

*  Jay's  Ev.  Ex.,  June  21.     This  is  the  subject  of  a  famous  paint- 
ing by  Murillo. 


WAR    WITH    AMALEK.  275 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WAM   WITH  AMALEK. 

"  While  Moses  stood  with  arras  spread  wide. 
Success  was  found  on  Israel's  side; 
But  when,  through  weariness,  they  failed, 
That  moment  Amalek  prevailed."  Newton. 

The  first  warfare  of  the  children  of  Israel  after 
leaving  Egypt  was  with  the  Amalekites;  and  the 
enmity  thus  begun  lasted  with  various  intermis- 
sions through  the  entire  records  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history;  found  its  close  in  the  Empire  of 
Persia,  during  the  dispersion  of  Israel,  in  the 
death  of  Ham  an  and  the  great  day  of  conflict 
through  his  plot;  and  has  been  perpetuated  in  the 
memory  of  the  Jewish  people  ever  since,  by  the 
feast  of  Purim.  Some  have  supposed  that  these 
Amalekites  were  descendants  of  Esau.  But  the 
name  of  Amalek,  belonging  to  the  grandson  of 
Esau,  is  no  sufficient  proof  that  any  tribe  de- 
scended of  him;  and  several  things  seem  to  show 
that  the  Amalekites,  mentioned  so  often  in  the 
sacred  narrative,  were  not  descended  of  Esau.  If 
even  we  suppose  that  when  Balaam  calls  the  Amal- 
ekites "the  first  of  the  nations,"  Numb.  xxiv.  20, 


276  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

he  but  means  that  they  were  the  first  nation  to 
come  forth  and  fight  against  Israel;  yet  when  we 
find  the  Amalekites  mentioned  in  the  days  of 
Abraham,  Gen.  xiv.  7 :  that  their  sympathies  were 
not  with  the  Edomites  but  with  the  Canaanites; 
that  they  seem  a  more  powerful  and  larger  tribe 
than  we  would  look  for  in  a  mere  branch  of  Esau's 
family;  and  that  David  refers  to  them  as  "nations 
that  were  of  old  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  as  thou 
goest  to  Shur,  even  unto  the  land  of  Egypt," 
1  Sam.  xxvii.  8,  we  seem  authorized  to  conclude 
that  the  Amalekites  were  an  older  nation,  and 
quite  distinct  from  the  sons  of  Esau. 

Where  they  dwelt  we  do  not  know.  When  Saul 
went  against  them  at  the  command  of  Samuel, 
they  dwelt  "from  Havilah  to  Shur,"  that  is  all 
along  the  northern  part  of  the  peninsula  of  Arabia 
from  Canaan  to  Egypt — from  the  isthmus  of  Suez 
to  the  most  northern  point  of  the  Persian  Gulf. 
Josephus  says  they  dwelt  from  Pelusium  of  Egypt 
to  the  Red  Sea.  (1.  vii.  ch.  vi.  §  3.)  He  further 
says  that  they  took  great  pains  to  excite  the  neigh- 
bouring tribes  to  an  early  warfare  against  the 
Israelites.  We  may  reasonably  suppose  that  the 
Amalekites  were  a  warlike  tribe  dwelling  in  the 
peninsula;  and  fearing  that  the  Israelites  would 
prove  formidable  neighbours,  they  resolved  to 
attack  them.  But  theirs  was  not  the  bold  and 
open  defiance  of  a  manly  foe.  They  attacked  the 
Israelites  in  the  rear  of  the  hosts ;  when  they  were 


WAR    WITH    AMALEK.  277 

faint  and  weary;  and  when  they  anticipated  no 
hostilities.  Deut.  xxv.  18.  That  they  should  do 
so,  so  soon  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  while  the  Israelites  marched  under  Divine 
protection,  greatly  increased  the  wickedness  of 
their  warfare;  and  the  historian  adds,  that  they 
^'fearednot  God." 

In  the  record  of  Israel's  earliest  battle  we  first 
read  the  name  of  Joshua,  who  was  afterwards  the 
illustrious  leader  of  the  people;  and  who  thus 
appears  the  military  leader  from  Egypt  to  Canaan. 
We  have  no  record  that  Moses  ever  actually  com- 
manded, in  any  of  their  battles.  But  the  chief 
interest  that  belongs  to  the  first  battle  of  the 
Israelites,  arises  from  the  manner  of  the  conflict; 
and  the  means  of  its  successful  termination.  If 
here  the  people  of  God  waged  the  first  contest 
with  a  foe  that  was  to  contend  with  them  for  so 
many  generations,  it  was  fitting  that  we  should 
have  here  a  type  of  the  church  and  her  foes ;  and 
a  significant  intimation  of  the  strength  which  must 
secure  the  victory  over  her  spiritual  enemies. 

Moses  made  the  arrangements  for  the  conflict — 
Joshua  was  to  lead  forth  chosen  men,  while  Moses 
must  stand  upon  a  hill  overlooking  the  battle,  with 
the  rod  of  God  in  his  hand.  The  strife  seems  to 
have  been  fierce;  lasting  all  the  day,  and  having 
its  varying  fortunes.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if 
Israel  would  be  beaten;  and  at  another  the  Amal- 
ekites  were  borne  back.     And  the  true  strength 

Vol.  I.— 24 


278  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

that  secured  success  was  upon  the  hill  top,  apart 
from  the  combatants,  where  Moses  held  up  the  rod 
of  God.  For  "it  came  to  pass  that  when  Moses 
held  up  his  hand,  Israel  prevailed;  and  when  he 
let  down  his  hand,  Amalek  prevailed."  Ex.  xvii. 
11.  Thus  evidently  showing,  that  the  holding  up 
of  the  rod  was  a  symbol  of  the  Divine  favour 
assisting  the  Israelites;  and  that  the  victory  was 
secured,  not  by  their  own  strength,  but  by  the 
power  of  God. 

That  the  hands  of  Moses  were  heavy  is  signifi- 
cant of  the  weariness  of  the  flesh  in  the  best  of 
men,  for  the  discharge  of  spiritual  duties.  As  it 
is  hard  physically  for  any  man  to  keep  his  arm 
extended  all  day  towards  heaven,  so  even  believing 
men,  believing  leaders  of  the  hosts  of  God's  people, 
find  it  hard  to  maintain  the  true  and  unflagging 
devotion  of  a  spiritual  mind.  As  therefore  we  are 
told  that  Aaron  and  Hur  stood  on  either  side  of 
Moses,  and  stayed  up  his  hands,  that  Amalek 
might  be  entirely  defeated,  we  have  in  the  whole 
scene  most  precious  instruction,  touching  the  vari- 
ous but  harmonious  duties  that  belong  to  the  people 
of  God  in  sustaining  the  conflict  w^ith  their  enemies. 

We  learn  here  that  the  victories  of  Zion  are  to 
be  secured  through  the  earnest  eff'orts  of  her  sons, 
crowned  by  the  blessing  of  God.  And  we  may 
look  upon  the  various  persons  here  named  as  rep- 
resenting the  various  things  to  be  done  to  secure 
success.     Joshua  and   the   picked  men  who   went 


WAR    WITH    AMALEK.  279 

forth  to  fierce  warfare,  may  represent  the  careful 
and  earnest  zeal  that  attempts  every  duty.  It  is 
not  the  design  nor  the  just  working  of  faith  to 
lead  us  to  neglect  any  of  the  duties  God  lays  upon 
us.  Truly  pious  labours  ever  depend  upon  the 
Divine  blessing.  So  Moses  stood  above  the  fight- 
ing armies  with  the  rod  of  God  in  his  hand.  But 
it  is  quite  as  hard  to  pray  as  it  is  to  fight.  Many 
a  man  is  willing  to  labour  hard  in  the  cause  of 
Zion,  who  yet  finds  it  difiicult  to  maintain  a 
spiritual  tone  of  feeling.  Many  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  prepares  carefully  for  the  pulpit;  pro- 
claims truthfully  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel;  and 
instructs  the  people  with  deep  interest  himself, 
and  securing  their  attention,  who  yet  finds  it  a 
much  harder  thing  to  enter  into  his  closet,  and 
hold  his  hands  steadily  up  to  heaven,  that  the 
hosts  of  the  enemy  may  be  routed.  What  mean 
the  frequent  appeals  of  even  a  Paul  for  the  prayers 
of  his  brethren,  except  as  they  are  a  confession 
that  his  hands  are  heavy  and  that  they  must  stay 
them  up? 

And  so  we  are  told  that  Aaron  and  Hur  stayed 
up  the  hands  of  Moses  until  Amalek  was  defeated. 
They  are  examples  of  those  who  may  stay  up  the 
hands  that  would  otherwise  droop,  of  them  that 
plead  with  God  for  Israel.  We  do  not  know  who 
Hur  was.  Josephus  says  he  was  the  husband  of 
Miriam.  When  Moses  was  absent  in  the  mount, 
he  spoke  of  Hur  as  one  capable  of  holding,  with 


280  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

Aaron,  rule  over  the  camp.  Ex.  xxiv.  14.  Thus 
he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Moses. 
Yet  very  little  mention  is  made  of  him;  except 
that  he  was  a  son  of  Caleb ;  but  not  of  that  Caleb 
who  was  sent  forth  with  the  spies.  In  short  we 
cannot  determine  who  Hur  was.  Nor  does  it 
much  matter.  For  they  who  most  successfully  and 
patiently  hold  up  the  hands  of  God's  pleading 
servants  may  be  wholly  unknown,  save  to  the  ear 
and  eye  of  God.  Some  afflicted  Christian,  whose 
feet  may  not  even  visit  the  sanctuary;  some  aged 
mother  laid  so  aside  by  infirmities  that  she  seems 
able  to  do  little  else  but  pray;  some  young  and 
timid  disciple,  whose  weak  grasp  seems  incapable 
of  clasping  as  yet  the  battle-axe  for  the  field  of 
stern  exertion;  any  one  among  the  people  of  God 
who  knows  that  the  Lord's  grace,  through  the 
pleading  prophet  on  the  hill-top,  is  better  than  the 
heaviest  strokes  of  the  striving  Joshua  in  the  vale, 
may  hold  up  the  declining  hands  until  the  victory 
is  won. 

We  must  both  strive  and  pray;  and  we  often 
are  more  ready  to  faint  at  prayer  than  in  labour. 
Let  God's  people  ever  help  each  other  in  addressing 
his  throne.  Let  his  people  especially,  for  their 
own  sake  and  for  the  cause's  sake,  hear  the  request 
of  the  ministry,  whose  place  it  is  to  plead  for 
God,  as  they  ask,  "Brethren,  pray  for  us."  Of- 
tentimes you  are  lookers  on,  while  the  minister  is 
like  Joshua,  too  busy  now  to  pray;  putting  forth 


WAR    WITH    AMALEK.  281 

all  his  strength  in  resisting  Amalek.  But  how 
feeble  these  efforts;  how  indeed  will  the  enemy 
prevail  in  spite  of  all  he  can  do,  unless  you  act 
like  Moses  holding  up  your  hands  to  heaven;  or 
like  Aaron  and  Hur  staying  up  the  heavy  hands 
of  those  who  do  help  him.  In  their  various  places 
and  duties,  all  these  were  doing  the  same  great 
work.  We  may  not  suppose  that  Moses  prayed 
for  want  of  courage  to  fight ;  or  that  Joshua  fought 
for  want  of  devotion  to  pray.  The  same  spirit  of 
piety  actuated  both;  and  they  were  fellow-helpers 
in  the  same  engagements.  So  whether  in  the 
pulpit  we  labour,  while  in  the  pew  you  pray ;  or  in 
the  world  you  toil  while  in  the  study  we  pray,  the 
same  spirit  belongs  to  the  teacher  and  the  taught. 
And  never  are  our  efforts  more  successful  in  resist- 
ing the  world,  or  in  winning  souls,  than  when  our 
hands  are  steadily  held  up  towards  heaven ;  and  as 
they  are  prone  to  be  heavy,  are  stayed  there  by 
our  brethren's  care. 

24  * 


282  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

MOUNT  SINAI. 

According  to  the  chronology  usually  received, 
the  Israelites  went  forth  from  Egypt  in  the  year 
B.  C.  1491.  If  we  may  receive  here  the  Jewish 
tradition,  it  was  on  the  fiftieth  day  after  the 
Passover  that  they  received  the  law  from  the 
summit  of  Sinai.*  If  this  be  so,  the  giving  of  the 
law  to  that  people,  and  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  the  disciples  of  Christ  occurred  upon 
the  day  of  Pentecost. 

The  people  were  encamped  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Sinai;  a  fitting  place  for  so  grand  a  scene.  Be- 
cause the  entire  people  were  to  hear  the  words  of 
the  Ten  Commandments  spoken  by  the  voice  of 
God,  it  was  suitable  that  large  grounds  for  their 
encampment  should  be  chosen.  And  modern  trav- 
ellers tell  us  that  there  is  a  noble  spot  for  an 
encampment,  directly  before  the  mountain.  Dr. 
Robinson  describes  it,  as  "a  fine  broad  plain  en- 
closed by  rugged  and  venerable  mountains  of  dark 

*  Neither  Philo  nor  Josephus  speak  of  this ;  but  later  Jews  affirm 
it;  and  Augustine  expressly  declares  it.  Contra  Faustum  Mani- 
chaeum,  xsxii.  1. 


MOUNT   SINAI.  283 

granite,  stern,  naked,  splintered  peaks,  and  ridges 
of  indescribable  grandeur;  and  terminated  at  the 
distance  of  more  than  a  mile  by  the  bold  and  awful 
front  of  Horeb,  rising  perpendicularly  in  frowning 
majesty  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  feet  in 
height.  It  was  a  scene  of  solemn  grandeur,  wholly 
unexpected,  and  such  as  we  had  never  seen;  and 
the  associations  which  at  the  moment  rushed  upon 
our  minds,  were  almost  overwhelming."*  An- 
other American  traveller  of  considerable  celebrity, 
and  still  more  graphic  powers  of  description,  speaks 
of  the  road  to  Sinai,  as  lying  between  rocky  ram- 
parts of  mountains,  sometimes  rising  to  a  thousand 
feet  amidst  scenes  of  wild  sublimity.  At  the  end 
of  a  wild  defile  "we  came  suddenly  upon  a  plain 
table  of  ground,  and  before  us  towered  in  awful 
grandeur,  so  huge  and  dark  that  it  seemed  close  to 
us,  and  barring  all  further  progress,  the  end  of  my 
pilgrimage,  the  holy  mountain  of  Sinai.  Among 
all  the  stupendous  works  of  nature,  not  a  place  can 
be  selected  more  fitting  for  the  exhibition  of  Al- 
mighty power.  I  have  stood  upon  the  summit  of 
the  giant  Etna  and  looked,  over  the  clouds  floating 
beneath  it,  upon  the  bold  scenery  of  Sicily  and  the 
distant  mountains  of  Calabria;  upon  the  top  of 
Vesuvius  and  looked  down  upon  the  waves  of  lava, 
and  the  ruined  and  half-recovered  cities  at  its  foot, 
but  they  are  nothing,  compared  with  the  terrific 
solitudes  and  bleak  majesty  of  Sinai,  "f 

*  Bib.  Researches,  i.  130.  f  Stephens'  Incidents  of  Travel. 


284  THE   HEBREW   LAWGIVER. 

Dr.  Robinson  and  his  companion,  the  Rev.  Eli 
Smith,  long  a  missionary  in  Syria  and  well  versed 
in  the  Arabic  language,  did  not  believe  that  the 
monks  at  Horeb  pointed  out  the  true  place  of 
delivering  the  law;  and  they  accordingly  made  an 
attempt  to  discover  it  for  themselves.  With  much 
difficulty  and  even  danger,  they  climbed  to  another 
peak  called  Es-Siifs^feh;  and  were  convinced  that 
there  the  law  had  been  delivered.  Before  them 
"lay  the  plain  where  the  whole  congregation  might 
be  assembled;  here  was  the  mount  that  could  be 
approached  and  touched,  if  not  forbidden;  and 
here  the  mountain  brow  where  the  lightnings  and 
the  thick  cloud  would  be  visible,  and  the  thunders 

and  the  voice  of  the  trumpet  be  heard 

We  gave  ourselves  up  to  the  impressions  of  the 
awful  scene;  and  read,  with  a  feeling  that  will 
never  be  forgotten,  the  sublime  account  of  the 
transaction  and  the  commandments  there  promul- 
gated, in  the  original  words  as  recorded  by  the 
great  Hebrew  legislator."* 

So  Dr.  Durbin,  another  American  traveller, 
speaks  of  the  same  peak — "One  glance  was  enough. 
We  were  satisfied  that  here  and  here  only,  could 
the  wondrous  displays  of  Sinai  have  been  visible 
to  the  assembled  host  of  Israel;  that  here  the 
Lord  spoke  with  Moses ;  that  here  was  the  mount 
that  trembled  and  smoked  in  the  presence  of  its 
Creator.     We  gazed  for  some  time  in  silence  and 

*  Biblical  Researches,  i.  158. 


MOUNT    SINAI.  285 

when  "we  spoke,  it  was  with  a  reverence  that  even 
the  most  thoughtless  of  our  company  could  not 
shake  off." 

And  yet  these  observing  travellers  are  not  cer- 
tainly correct.  For  at  the  base  of  the  mountain 
usually  taken  for  the  spot  for  the  delivery  of  the 
law,  and  upon  a  side  which  they  did  not  observe, 
there  is  a  large  plain  as  suitable  for  the  encamp- 
ment of  Israel;  but  which  cannot  be  seen  from  the 
path  usually  taken  by  travellers,  and  has  therefore 
been  overlooked. 

But  in  either  view  of  the  case,  no  place  in  the 
world  has  more  solemn  and  awful  associations  than 
those  that  gather  around  Sinai.  What  a  declara- 
tion was  that  when  God  announced  to  the  people 
that  he  would  come  down  in  their  sight*  and  as 
they  were  surrounded  by  these  scenes  of  awful 
sublimity  in  the  silence  of  the  desert,  and  gazed 
upon  the  rising  precipices  that  seemed  to  penetrate 
the  sky  and  lose  themselves  in  the  clouds,  how 
impressive  the  thought  of  the  Divine  presence  in 
such  a  place  as  that. 

They  were  required  to  sanctify  themselves  against 
the  third  day,  and  to  gather  around  the  foot  of 
this  magnificent  mountain.  Yet  they  were  forbid- 
den to  touch  it.  And  on  the  third  day,  God  came 
down  in  terrible  majesty.  Even  Moses,  the  fa- 
voured one,  "exceedingly"  feared  and  trembled, 
Heb.  xii.  21;  and  all  the  people  were  afraid. 
There  were  thunderings  and  lightnings  and  the 


286  THE    HEBREW    LAWGIVER. 

peal  of  the  trumpet  sounding  above  the  thunder; 
and  Mount  Sinai  was  full  of  smoke ;  and  then  the 
voice  of  the  Most  High  himself  proclaimed  in  their 
ears  from  that  trembling  summit  all  the  words  of 
the  ten  commandments.  After  this  he  gave  this 
law  to  Moses,  engraven  by  his  own  finger  upon 
two  tables  of  stone.  These  two  tables  were  broken 
bj  Moses  in  holy  indignation  at  the  sin  of  the 
people;  and  as  a  solemn  token  that  they  had 
broken  the  law  and  the  covenant  of  God.  But 
God  was  pleased  to  renew  these  tables  by  the  hand 
of  Moses ;  and  by  his  own  hand,  a  second  time, 
to  write  the  law  upon  them.  This  second  pair 
of  tables  was  preserved  by  the  Israelites  with 
religious  care  in  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  for 
more  than  nine  hundred  years;  (from  B.  C.  1491 
to  588),  and  they  were  finally  lost  in  the  burning 
of  Solomon's  temple. 

We  are  told  in  several  places  of  the  Scriptures 
that  this  great  law  was  given  upon  Sinai  by  the 
ministry  of  angels.  We  do  not  understand  by 
this,  that  Jehovah  was  not  present;  on  the  con- 
trary his  powerful  presence  is  expressly  asserted. 
God  himself  spoke  and  wrote  that  law.  But  his 
majesty  and  glory  were  exhibited  amidst  crowds 
of  attending  ministers.  The  New  Testament  wri- 
ters three'  several  times  declare  the  presence  of 
angels  when  the  law  was  given.  So  the  martyr 
Stephen  declared  to  the  Jews  that  they  had  re- 
ceived the  law  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  (Acts 


MOUNT   SINAI.  287 

vii.  53) ;  and  Paul  in  tlie  Epistle  to  the  Galatians 
declares  that  it  was  "ordained  by  angels;"  (Gal. 
iii.  19);  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (ii.  2), 
he  calls  it  "the  word  spoken  by  angels."  In 
the  Old  Testament,  Moses  declares  the  same  thing. 
He  says,  "The  Lord  came  from  Sinai,  and  rose 
up  from  Seir  unto  them;  he  shined  forth  from 
Mount  Paran,  and  he  came  with  ten  thousands 
of  saints  (or  holy  ones);  from  his  right  hand 
went  forth  his  fiery  law  for  them."  Deut.  xxxii.  2. 
And  the  Psalmist  in  the  Ixviii.  Psalm  declares 
that  when  the  earth  shook  and  Sinai  trembled 
at  the  presence  of  God,  there  were  with  him 
twenty  thousand  chariots  and  thousands  of  angels. 
The  law  was  given  amidst  the  attendance  and 
in  some  degree  by  the  ministry  of  angels.  See 
also  Ps.  xviii.  for  like  imagery. 

Before  declaring  this  law,  God  called  Moses 
up  into  the  mount.  From  this  interview  he  came 
down  to  prepare  the  people  for  the  awful  scenes 
before  them.  And  after  they  heard  the  thunder 
and  the  trumpet,  they  so  greatly  feared  that  they 
entreated  Moses  to  act  the  part  of  mediator  be- 
tween them  and  the  Lord.  It  would  seem  then 
that  during  the  declaration  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments themselves,  Moses  was  among  the  people: 
Ex.  XX.  19;  and  in  their  dread  assured  them 
that  God  but  proved  them  to  put  his  fear  before 
them  that  they  might  not  sin.  Afterwards  Moses 
drew    near    into    the   thick    darkness    where    God 


288  THE    HEBREW    LAAVGIVER. 

was;  and  received  other  communications  of  the 
Divine  will,  respecting  the  government  of  the 
people,  the  building  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the 
regulation  of  the  worship  of  God  under  the  Leviti- 
cal  economy. 


Date  Due 

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